The State of Israel discriminates against non-Orthodox streams of Judaism and against Jewish-born believers in Christianity, while the Palestinian Authority has not been doing enough to combat Muslim violence against Christians, according to the US State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report on Israel released this week.
“Israeli government policy continued to support the generally free practice of religion, although government discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism continued,” stated the 12,000-word report.
The Orthodox monopoly over marriage, burial and conversion was criticized by US State Department officials.
“Approximately 310,000 citizens who immigrated under the Law of Return but are not considered Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate cannot be married, divorced, or buried in Jewish cemeteries within the country,” said the report.
via State Dep’t: Israel discriminates against non-Orthodox Jewry | Jewish News | Jerusalem Post.
