The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) has condemned a
U.S. State Department report that criticizes Israel for alleged religious discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox Jews. The report put Israel in the same category as Afghanistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iran in terms of religious freedom.
"Although Israel was established as a Jewish State in 1948, it has spent the past six decades actively encouraging and facilitating freedom of religion for all of its citizens," said NCYI President Shlomo Mostofsky. "Equating Israel, the United States' sole democratic ally in the Middle East region, with rogue nations that actively suppress the free exercise of religion is unjust and uncalled for."
The State Department report acknowledged that, "government policy contributed to the generally free practice of religion,” but claimed, “governmental and legal discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism continued."
Among the policies the report cited as examples of “religious discrimination” were the fact that the Law of Return, under which Jews can receive Israeli citizenship, does not apply to Jews who have converted to another religion, and the fact that the Rabbinate recognizes conversions to Judaism only if they are performed according to traditional Torah law. The report did not note that changing that policy is reverse discrimination against those who adhere to Jewish law.
"The Israeli courts have consistently focused on the importance of protecting freedom of religion for its citizenry,” countered Mostofsky.
The report also claimed that Israel fails to protect non-Jewish holy sites, a claim INN and Mostofsky dismissed as completely false. "Despite constant security concerns that warrant the implementation of certain protective measures in order to properly protect the public, Israel continues to provide unfettered access to holy sites of all religions, and the religious beliefs of Christians, Muslims, and Jews are not encumbered in any way. Israel should be commended for its high level of religious tolerance, not condemned."
The report failed to note, as INN reported, that Government security forces often prevent Jews from even approaching the Temple Mount, and numerous Jews have been arrested -- including a young bride and her father at one point -- for infractions as spurious as simply "moving their lips" on the site, because the area has been designated an official holy site for Muslims, where the Al-Aqsa mosque is located.
All Islamic sites are controlled by the Waqf, also known as the Islamic Religious Authority – due to the preference of the imams themselves, and under a special arrangement. Much damage has been caused and thousands of priceless artifacts from the First and Second Temple eras have been destroyed due to damage caused by construction near the Dome of the Rock mosque – which rests on the Temple Mount, where the Jewish Holy of Holies is located -- authorized by the Waqf.
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