Failing grade

Israel receives a “0” in the International Religious Freedom Index

Israel in the bottom quarter of the world index of religious freedom, scoring the same as Iran, Afghanistan and Russia. Hiddush head Rabbi Uri Regev: “This index shows the growing gap between the support of most Israelis for religious freedom, and the governments’ growing surrender to fundamentalist religious politicians.”

14/12/2011 16:13

Tags: Religious Freedoms ·  Uri Regev ·  Ha’aretz

Israel Democracy Index 2011 Religious Freedoms Comparative sclae

Israel scored a “0” in the International Religious Freedom Index for 2010 by CIRI Human Rights Data Project published December 10 in honor of Human Rights Day. The score of “0” was received by a total of 53 countries out of the 195 analyzed.

Israel is the only Western democracy that received this score. It shares this grade with many Arab countries (Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia), Islamic countries (Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan), Communist countries (China, North Korea) and countries from the Former Soviet Union (Russia, Romania). Among others received this undignified score were Mexico, Turkey, India.

President of Hiddush – Freedom of Religion for Israel, Rabbi Uri Regev, remarked “The International Religious Freedom Index puts a mirror in front of our faces, and sadly exposes how far Israel is from the enlightened democracies of the world it looks up to, and how it is slipping in the direction of radical Islamic countries. ”

According to Regev, “What leads to this shameful score is a depressing but consistent political phenomenon in Israel; political parties trading power in exchange for submission to religious coercion, ignoring the will of the overwhelming majority of Israelis and Jews throughout the world.” Regev called attention to a recent public statement by the former head of the Mossad, Efraim Halevy, who presented the growing religious radicalization of Israel as a greater threat to Israel than Ahmedinejad. “While this is the current comparative data,” stressed Regev, “we should derive hope from the fact that consistent polling of public opinion in Israel demonstrates that the clear majority of Israelis desire to see the promise for ‘Freedom of Religion and Conscience’, central to Israel’s Declaration of Independence, fully realized. 83% of Israeli Jews hold that view according to Hiddush’s 2011 Israel Religion and State Index, and 80% are dissatisfied with the government’s handling of matters of religious freedom and equality."

What leads to this shameful score is a depressing but consistent political phenomenon in Israel; political parties trading power in exchange for submission to religious coercion, ignoring the will of the overwhelming majority of Israelis and Jews throughout the world.

CIRI Human Rights Data Project publishes indices of human rights in various fields every year on Human Rights Days, December 10. The National Science Foundation of the United States, the World Bank and several universities fund this prestigious academic project.

The Index examines the government restrictions on freedom of religion and freedom of religious conversion. A score of “0” indicates that the government restrictions on freedom of religion are severe and widespread. A score of “1” indicates these restrictions are mild, while a grade of “2” indicates these restrictions are almost non-existent.

Among the countries that receive a score of “2” are the United States and Sweden, but also Poland, South Africa, Angola and Lebanon. Italy, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Mongolia received a score of 1. Israel has received the score of “0” every year since 2004. In the decade prior, Israel’s score was still only “1”.

CIRI’s Index provides further context to recent international criticism of religious freedoms in Israel. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remarked at a closed meeting of the Saban Forum last week that reports of religious army officers who abandon military events because women are singing reminds her of Iran, while gender segregated bus lines are reminiscent of Rosa Parks.

The U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report published in October describes in detail Israel’s continuing discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism through policy and law. Among other things, the report stresses that hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens are denied the right of legal marriage because of religious restrictions and accounts that “Preference was given in the allocation of state resources mainly to Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox institutions and organizations.”

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