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The Influence of Jewish Fundamentalism on Legislation in Israel

A threat to religious freedom in the only democracy in the Near East

Overall, national religious political parties currently receive about 15% of the vote. And yet as small coalition partners they have gained an astonishing amount of influence. By law there are an increasing number of Israelis who have to live as the minority of Orthodox Jews envisage, although these individuals in part actually reject the existence of a State of Israel and for this reason are for instance freed from military service. This is all the more astonishing since most Jews in Israel do not share in the following laws. This is due to the fact that they are even more liberal than members of Reform Judaism or only nominally belong to their religion, i. e., belong to the religion for reasons of ancestry. Here are some of the laws which have been passed:

Sabbath law: The Sabbath rest is also being more strictly implemented outside of Orthodox quarters by the state. The airline El-Al is not allowed to fly into or out of the country on the Sabbath. A governmental institute is developing robots able to conduct all types of work on the Sabbath that otherwise would be considered sins for people to do.

Jewish dietary laws: Hotels and restaurants have to pay ‘kosher guards’ who are to ensure that foodstuffs are not offered anywhere which do not conform to rabbinic guidelines of ‘kosher’ preparation or which, such as pork, are completely forbidden. These ‘chaplains’ are found in many areas of society, for instance in the army.

Marital law: Jewish marriages may only be conducted by rabbis, and other religious marriages may only be conducted by representatives of the respective religions. There is no such thing as a civil marriage. That is tragic for interfaith couples, of which one always – at least feignedly – has to change religions.

Law of Return: Whoever immigrates and is allowed to become an Israeli citizen is an issue decided according to strict Orthodox regulations. Reform Jews and especially Messianic Jews (Jewish Christians) are often rejected as non-Jewish. Reform Jewish rabbis are not allowed to carry out religious activities, although internationally Reform Jews represent the largest wing of the Jewish religion.

Medicine: Autopsies and transplants are almost impossible according to law.

Archaeology: Excavations are forbidden where Orthodox officials suspect Jewish graves. Important planned excavations in Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Tiberius are thereby affected.

This progressive takeover of Orthodox Jewish laws in state legislation is primarily being advanced by ‘Agudath Israel’ and the ‘Schas’ which emerged from it, in which the leaders of the Talmud schools (jeshibot) and Hasidic communities set the tone.

A double Standard: Driving Jews out of the Islamic World

Between 1948 and 1970 850,000 to 1,000,000 Jews were driven out of Arab countries, where until that time they had lived peacefully for hundreds of years. While Palestinians are mentioned daily in the media and the call is made for grandchildren and great grandchildren of once displaced Palestinians to be returned to their homeland, no one speaks about displaced Jews any more. The World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries, which was founded in 1976, is not taken seriously anywhere, although many of the people concerned live involuntarily in Israel or the USA. This is a double standard.

The displacement of the long-established Christian minority in the Islamic world is also proceeding at a rapid pace. These people have often been longer in the countries than Islam has even existed. The devastating results of George W. Bush’s Iraq war on the Christian community were predictable – as the Islamic terrorists cannot win against the Americans, they are looking for the only attainable goal as a small victory, the peaceful Christian untrained in defense – to that degree the terrorists and the Iraqi government, with the latter doing nothing to oppose the terrorists, continue what has been underway for 100 years.

A similar tragedy is often forgotten in this connection: the displacement of Jews from Islamic countries. All in all their number is smaller than the number of Christians, but their percentage is higher, mostly close to 100%. For centuries Northern Africa, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq all had prospering Jewish populations, which have in the meantime practically disappeared.

In 1948 135,000 Jews lived in Iraq. Today that number is 10!