i regularly hear proponents of israel assert that there is complete freedom of religion in israel. while israel unquestionably does have more religious freedom than say the territory controlled by the self-declared islamic state, i don’t think most westerners understand just how judaicized this place is. when compared to the west, there are some serious issues here with regard to religious persecution.
proselytizing for any religion other than judaism is illegal in israel.
while superficially the israeli government likes to cozy up to american
christians, this probably has more to do with financial and political influence
than anything else. many jewish israeli christians are harassed and intimidated
on a regular basis. for example, it is not uncommon for local jewish christians
to receive literature in the mail or over email explaining the perils of
christianity. this makes it obvious that emails are screened, something only
the government has the authority to do. at least a few times ultra-orthodox
bouncer-types stood outside a bible study i was attending in a private home,
and intimidated those coming and going with insults and sometimes even blocking
their path. when asked, they said they were hired by the authorities to do so. i
have friends who are messianic jews whose efforts to make aliyah (immigrate to
israel – supposedly the “right” of any jew in the world) are being obfuscated
directly due to the fact that they are christian. a few years ago the local
church in beer sheva was ransacked by a mob of well-connected ultra-orthodox
men, who were never held accountable for their crimes.
about 300 000 of the 1 000 000 ethnic jews who immigrated from the
former soviet union are considered jewish enough to be israeli, but not jewish
enough to be considered jewish by israel’s chief rabbinate. thus, many must
leave the country to get married, etc. for many of these, it is ostensibly because
they are christians. in any case, what kind of misguided system lets rabbis
decide what citizen’s rights are based on arbitrary religious definitions? i’m
not saying it doesn’t happen and isn’t even worse elsewhere in the middle east;
i’m saying it happens in israel.
and this is just relating to ethnic jews, citizens of israel. the
challenges faced by israeli arabs, both christian and muslim, are myriad, and don’t
even begin to compare to those faced by palestinians living under marshal law in
the occupied territories. that every single jew can travel freely through
checkpoints in bethlehem while local christians and muslims cannot is religious
apartheid as far as i’m concerned. while true that it is technically about citizenship rather than religion, but when every jew in the world can easily become an israeli citizen regardless of where they are from, but people whose families have lived in palestine/now israel for hundreds of years are barred from becoming israeli citizens except through birth, it is about religion. there are books detailing the flight of
christians from the holy land, and it is due to israeli policy, not
islamization of the west bank, despite israeli efforts to frame it as the
latter. and then there are the injustices faced by muslims because of their
faith. even myself, a white american christian, am consistently asked by
bigoted security guards at the airport why i would travel to muslim countries, why
i am not scared to go to muslim countries, if i know any muslims etc. there is
just an overwhelming undertone of racism and religious hatred toward muslims
that sadly permeates much of israeli society, including its governmental institutions,
and it is unequivocally wrong. one could go on and on with examples but suffice
it to say - israel is a decidedly jewish state –the assertion that it is a bastion
of religious freedom is not correct.
