Israel is secular

Israel is a secular state

Response #1
Israel's law define it as a state for the Jewish people, not only this is unsecular but 20% of its population are not Jewish. It's declaration of Independence not only calls itself a "Jewish state" (like how Iran is an "Islamic state") but it also includes specifically religious language saying it is to be created "as invisaged by the prophets of Israel" and calls it the land where they "wrote and gave the Bible to the world." It defines itself as a continuation of the theocracy of the ancient Hebrews. Here is the text: http://www.brijnet.org/israel50/decl-eng.htm

Israel bans equality-seeking parties and invididuals (i.e., whoever challenges the Jewish notion) from elections.

Israel grants citizenship to anyone from anywhere around the world if he happens to be Jewish, while displaced Palestinians and relatives/descendants of Arab-Israelis are not even allowed to visit. It was estblished in it's "Law of Return." Here is the text: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Politics/Other_Law_Law_of_Return.html  It would be the equivalent of the United States calling itself a "Christian state" and a continuation of the Bible (see Israel's declaration of independence) and then saying that Christians everywhere have a "right" to move to the US and then deny that "right" to all non-Christians. Would we ever call this state secular? Nope.

Israel has only 13 recognized religious sects and your place in society is determiend by your sect (i t adopted the Millet system of the Ottoman empire - if you call Israel "secular" you also have to call the Ottoman empire secular). All personal status issues are determined by religious courts. A state which decides which religions are to be "recongized" by it is not secular, as a secular state by definition is a state which stays away from religious matters. Recognizing specific religions is the opposite of secularism as it is state involvement with religion. Here is evidence: http://www.reformjudaism.org/religious-pluralism-israel

Israel has special religious courts to handle family matters such as divorce and marriage. Here we repeat: if you want to get married in Israel, you must marry a coreligionist and have the approval of the religious authorities of your religious sect. With Jews, marriages are in accordance to the laws of Orthodox Judaism, with Muslims, with Sharia, etc. Here is proof: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/israel/Contemporary_Life/Society_and_Religious_Issues/Freedom_of_Religion/civil_marriage_in_israel.shtml

Israel doesn't recognize same-sex and inter-faith marriages (except when conducted abroad).


 * On marriage freedom, Israel as bad as Iran


 * "Hiddush, an Israeli NGO that monitors religious freedom, claimed Sunday that Israel is ranked in the bottom 23 percent of world nations in terms of the restrictions it imposes on marriage — on a par with countries such as Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Iran."

Response #2
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