Israel
(1999)
Section I. Freedom of Religion
Israel has no constitution; however, the law provides
for freedom of worship, and the Government generally respects this right in
practice.
The Government recognizes 5 religions, including 10
Christian groups. Each religion recognized by the Government has its own
religious court system, which has considerable authority over issues of
personal status. Government recognition is limited to religions present in
the country before 1948.
Approximately 80 percent of citizens are Jewish (with a
significant secular majority), while approximately 16 percent are Muslims,
2 percent are Christians, and 1.5 percent are Druze. The non-Jewish
population is concentrated in the north, east-central, and southern parts
of the country. The population includes small but growing numbers of
adherents of nonrecognized evangelical Christian groups and members of
other faiths, such as Jehovah's Witnesses.
The overwhelming majority of non-Jewish citizens are
Arabs and they are subject to various forms of discrimination. It is not
clear that whatever discrepancies exist in the treatment of various
communities in Israeli society are based on religion per se. Israeli Arabs
and other non-Jewish Israelis are, in fact, free to practice their
religions.
The Government does not provide Israeli Arabs, who
constitute 20 percent of the population, with the same quality of
education, housing, employment opportunities, and social services as Jews.
In addition, government spending and financial support are proportionally
far lower in predominantly non-Jewish areas than in Jewish areas. According
to the press, an Interior Ministry report released during 1998 notes that
non-Jewish communities receive significantly less government financial
support than their Jewish counterparts. Israeli-Arab organizations have
challenged the Government's "Master Plan for the Northern Areas of
Israel," which listed as priority goals increasing the Galilee's
Jewish population and blocking the territorial contiguity of Arab villages
and towns, on the grounds that it discriminates against Arab citizens.
The Government provides proportionally greater financial
support to religious and civic institutions in the Jewish sector compared
with those in the non-Jewish sector, i.e., Muslim, Christian, and Druze.
For example, only 2 percent of the Ministry of Religious Affairs budget
goes to the non-Jewish sector. The Ministry's 1998 budget actually reduced
the percentage. The High Court of Justice heard a case in February 1997
alleging that this budgetary allocation constitutes discrimination. The
Court refused to rule on the case in 1997 and suggested that the
petitioners refile the case after the passage of the 1998 budget, which the
petitioners did. After three hearings during 1998, the Court ruled that the
budget allocation did in fact constitute "prima facie
discrimination" but that the plaintiff's petition did not provide
adequate information about the religious needs of the various communities.
The Court refused to intervene in the budgetary process on the grounds that
such action would invade the proper sphere of the legislature.
In civic areas where religion is a determining
criterion, such as the religious courts and centers of education,
non-Jewish institutions routinely receive less state support than their
Jewish counterparts. The status of a number of Christian organizations with
representation in Israel has heretofore been defined by a collection of ad
hoc arrangements with various government agencies. Several of these
organizations seek to negotiate with the Government in an attempt to
formalize their status.
The Government has recognized Jewish holy places under
the 1967 Protection of Holy Sites Law. The Government states that it also
protects the holy sites of other faiths. The Government also states that it
has provided funds for some holy sites of other faiths.
Missionaries are allowed to proselytize, although the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints voluntarily refrains from
proselytizing under an agreement with the Government. A 1977
antiproselytizing law prohibits anyone from offering or receiving material
benefits as an inducement to conversion; there have been no reports of its
enforcement. Bills that would have further restricted proselytizing were
introduced and passed their preliminary readings in 1997 and 1998 with the
support of some government ministers; however, no further action was taken
before the dissolution of the Knesset following the May 1999 elections.
They are not expected to be enacted if reintroduced in the Knesset.
Christian and other evangelical groups asserted that the draft bills were
discriminatory and served to intimidate Christian groups.
Evangelical Christian and other religious groups also
have complained that the police have been slow to investigate incidents of
harassment, threats, and vandalism directed against their meetings,
churches, and other facilities by two ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups, known
as Yad L'achim and Lev L'achim.
The Government confers automatic citizenship and
residence rights to Jewish immigrants, their families, and Jewish refugees
under the Law of Return. This law does not apply to non-Jews or to persons
of Jewish descent who have converted to another faith.
The Government designates religion on national identity
document, but not on passports.
Orthodox Jewish religious authorities have exclusive
control of Jewish marriages, divorces, and burials. They do not recognize
marriages or conversions to Judaism performed in Israel by non-Orthodox
rabbis. Many Jews object to this exclusive control and it has been at times
a source of serious controversy in society. Many Jews who wish to marry in
secular or non-Orthodox religious ceremonies do so abroad, and the Ministry
of Interior recognizes such marriages.
Members of nonrecognized religions (particularly
evangelical Christians) suffer difficulties conducting marriages and
funerals, although informal arrangements provide some relief.
Religious affiliation plays a key role in daily life,
particularly in matters of birth, marriage, divorce, and death. Each
recognized religious community has legal authority over its members in
matters of marriage and divorce. Secular courts have primacy over questions
of inheritance, but parties, by mutual agreement, may bring cases to
religious courts. Jewish and Druze families may ask that some family status
matters, such as alimony and child custody in divorces, be adjudicated in
civil courts as an alternative to religious courts. Christians may only ask
that child custody and child support be adjudicated in civil courts as an
alternative to religious courts. Muslims have no recourse to civil courts
in family-status matters. Legislation passed in 1996 allows the rabbinical
courts to sanction either party who is not willing to grant a divorce.
The Government generally continued to permit Muslim
citizens to make the Hajj during the period covered by this report.
However, for security reasons, the Government imposes some restrictions on
its Muslim citizens who perform the Hajj, including requiring that they be
over the age of 30. The Government will not allow them to return if they
leave the country without formal permission. The Government justifies these
restrictions on the grounds that Saudi Arabia remains officially at war
with Israel and that travel to Saudi Arabia therefore is considered subject
to security considerations.
Jehovah's Witnesses complained of inadequate police
response to numerous incidents of harassment, assaults, theft, and
vandalism during the period covered by this report, reportedly by two
ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups, known as Yad L'achim and Lev L'achim. For
example, Jehovah's Witnesses assert that police did not adequately
investigate two break-ins at a meeting house in Lod in February 1998.
Jehovah's Witnesses filed over 120 complaints about such incidents with the
police during 1998 and the first half of 1999. There have been no
indictments or prosecutions in these cases.
One member of Jehovah's Witnesses was arrested and
charged with "offending religious sentiment" for allegedly
distributing religious literature at Tel Aviv's central bus station on
March 1, 1999. The arrest followed a complaint by a member of the Yad
L'achim organization. The individual alleged that he was singled out
because he had filed five separate complaints against members of Yad
L'achim.
On March 30, 1999, another member of Jehovah's Witnesses
was summoned to a police station in Beersheva for allegedly distributing a
religious tract to a soldier. She was charged with the "unlawful
distribution of a religious tract to a soldier, attempting to convert him
to another religion, and assault on religious sentiments." On April 6,
she again was summoned and questioned by police. On April 18, she
discovered that the complaint had been filed by an ultra-Orthodox man
against whom she herself had filed a complaint for harassment in
mid-February 1999. The police have taken no further action in the case.
The Government makes some efforts at encouraging
interfaith understanding.
There was no change in the status of respect for
religious freedom during the period covered by this report.
There were no reports of religious detainees or
prisoners.
There were no reports of the forced religious conversion
of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the Government's refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Section II. Societal Attitudes
Relations between different religious groups are often
strained, both between Jews and non-Jews, as well as among the different
branches of Judaism. Tensions between Jews and non-Jews exist primarily as
a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as Israel's control of sites
holy to Christians and Muslims. Friction between Christians and Muslims in
the Arab community increased during the period covered by this report,
primarily as a result of a dispute about a plot of land alleged to belong
to the Waqf (Islamic religious trust) in Nazareth. This led to small
outbreaks of violence in April and June 1999. Animosity between secular and
religious Jews continued to grow during the period covered by this report.
Non-Orthodox Jews have complained of discrimination and intolerance.
There are numerous nongovernmental organizations working
on dialog between different religions. Interfaith dialog often is linked to
the peace process between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
Societal attitudes towards conversion are particularly
negative. Religious and lay leaders of most religions are largely hostile
to missionary activity. Muslims consider any conversion from Islam to be
apostasy.
Jehovah's Witnesses suffered verbal abuse, assaults,
theft, and vandalism during the period covered by the report (see Section
I).
Evangelical Christian and other religious groups
suffered numerous incidents of often-violent harassment (also see Section
I). For example, a meeting of self-described "Messianic Jews" in
the southern city of Beersheba was broken up violently in May 1999 by a
group of Jews opposed to their activities. Such incidents are not limited
to non-Jews. Instances of ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups verbally or
physically harassing Jewish citizens for "immodest dress" or
other violations of their interpretation of religious law are not uncommon
and have increased during the period covered by this report.
The overwhelming majority of non-Jewish citizens are
Arabs and they are subject to various forms of discrimination. It is not
clear that whatever discrepancies exist in the treatment of various
communities in Israeli society are based on religion per se. Israeli Arabs
and other non-Jewish Israelis are, in fact, free to practice their
religions.
Relative to their numbers, Israeli Arabs are
underrepresented in the student bodies and faculties of most universities,
and in higher-level professional and business ranks. Well-educated Arabs
often are unable to find jobs commensurate with their level of education.
Arab Ph.D.'s suffer the greatest problems in this regard. A small number of
Israeli Arabs have risen to responsible positions in the civil service,
generally in the Arab departments of government ministries. In 1994 a civil
service commission began a 3-year affirmative action program to expand that
number, but it has had only modest results. The Government has allocated
only very limited resources to enforce landmark 1995 legislation
prohibiting discrimination in employment.
In practice Israeli Arab citizens who do not serve in
the military and therefore cannot obtain security clearances are not
allowed to work in companies with defense contracts or in security-related
fields. The Israeli Druze and Circassian communities are subject to the
military draft, and although some have refused to serve, the overwhelming
majority accept service willingly. Some Bedouin and other Arab citizens who
are not subject to the draft serve voluntarily. Those not subject to the
draft have less access than other citizens to those social and economic
benefits for which military service is a prerequisite or an advantage, such
as housing, new-household subsidies, and government or security-related
industrial employment. Under a 1994 government policy decision, the social
security child allowance for parents who did not serve in the military and
did not attend a yeshiva (including Arabs) was increased to equal the
allowance of those who had done so.
Israeli Arab groups allege that many employers use the
prerequisite of military service to avoid hiring non-Jews. For example, in
1997 a Haifa employment agency advertisied for Arabic-speaking telephone
operators and listed military service as a prerequisite. An Israeli Arab
group noted that there was no clear justification for this requirement and
threatened to file a civil suit under a law prohibiting employment
discrimination and defining requirements unrelated to actual work as
discriminatory. The employment agency eventually agreed to change the
advertisement and run it again.
Arab children make up about one-quarter of Israel's
public school population, but government resources for them are not
proportionate to those for Jewish children. Many schools in Arab
communities are dilapidated and overcrowded, lack special education
services and counselors, have poor libraries, and have no sports
facilities. Arab groups also note that the public school curriculum
stresses the country's Jewish culture and heritage.
Section III. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Embassy consistently raised issues of religious
freedom with the Government at working levels with the Foreign Ministry,
the police, and the Prime Minister's office. These contacts have focused
particularly on complaints from Jehovah's Witnesses about poor police
response to incidents of violent harassment and have dealt with specific
incidents as well as the general problem of insufficient police response.
Robert Seiple, Special Representative to the Secretary of State for
International Religious Freedom, met in February 1999 with senior
officials, including the Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs, to discuss
matters of religious freedom.
Embassy representatives, including the Ambassador,
routinely meet with religious officials. These contacts included meetings
with Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Baha'i leaders at a variety of levels.
Embassy officials maintain a dialog with nongovernmental
organizations that follow human and civil rights issues, including
religious freedom. These have included the Association for Civil Rights in
Israel, the Israel Religious Action Center, Adalah, and many others.
Embassy representatives have attended meetings of groups
seeking to promote interfaith dialog, including the Interreligious
Coordinating Council in Israel, the Anti-Defamation League, and others.
Sources: U.S. State Department - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor |