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Violations

U.S. report highlights Israeli
religious freedoms issues.

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22

December 2 • 2010

overnment allocations
favoring the Orthodox,
extra legal protection for
Jewish holy sites and Orthodox
hegemony over lifecycle events are
among Israel's religious freedom
violations highlighted in a U.S. State
Department report.
The International Religious
Freedom Report 2009, released on
Nov. 17, placed Israel in the section
with countries "where violations of
religious freedom have been note-
worthy." Israel is in the same section
as such countries as Afghanistan,
China, Iran, Iraq and Sudan.
Another section of the report
highlights countries, some in the
violators group, where positive
developments have been seen; Israel
does not appear in that category.
While Israel's Basic Law describes
the country as a Jewish and demo-
cratic state."Government policy con-
tinued to support the generally free
practice of religion, although gov-
ernmental and legal discrimination
against non-Jews and non-Orthodox
streams of Judaism continued:'
according to the report.
The report pointed out that
"Government allocations of state
resources favored Orthodox (includ-
ing Modern and National Religious
streams of Orthodoxy) and ultra-
Orthodox (sometimes referred to
as haredi) Jewish religious groups
and institutions, discriminating
against non-Jews and non-Orthodox
streams of Judaism!'
The report also took issue with
the fact that three Messianic Jews
who attempted to immigrate to
Israel during the reporting period
were denied and that national iden-
tification documents differentiate
between Jews and non-Jews.
The report pointed out that the
state does not recognize conver-
sions to Judaism performed in Israel
by non-Orthodox rabbis and does
not support non-Orthodox conver-
sion institutions in the country. It
also highlighted that the only in-
country marriages recognized by

"Israel is in the
same section as
such countries as
Afghanistan, China,
Iran, Iraq and
Sudan."

the state are those performed by the
"Orthodox Jewish establishment"
and that exclusive control over
marriages rests with it. The report
points out that the Orthodox Jewish
establishment determines who can
be buried in Jewish state cemeteries.
The report takes issue with
Israel's policy on holy sites.
"The 1967 Protection of Holy
Sites Law applies to holy sites of
all religious groups within the
country and in all of Jerusalem,
but the Government implements
regulations only for Jewish sites.
Non-Jewish holy sites do not enjoy
legal protection under it because
the Government does not recognize
them as official holy sites:' accord-
ing to the report.
The report also cited the Egged
bus company for operating sex-seg-
regated buses along some lines, the
prohibition against women wearing
prayer shawls at the Western Wall
and the government's disproportion-
ate funding of synagogues over the
places of worship of other religions.
It cited animosity between secular
and religious Jews as well as ani-
mosity against Messianic groups.
The report applauded Israel's
Supreme Court for ruling that the
government must stop discriminat-
ing against non-Orthodox conver-
sion institutes in regard to state
funding. It also applauded the
Education Ministry's approval of the
accreditation of the country's first
fully independent Arab university,
Mar Elias College. 0

