Religious Freedom in Israel

Israel’s legal framework recognizes and protects freedom of conscience and worship, yet the country exhibits a number of idiosyncratic qualities in its treatment of religion. The state provides material support for all recognized religious communities, but this is disproportionately targeted toward Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups. The Ministry of Education provides funding for schools that promote Orthodox Judaism and the government subsidizes conversions to Orthodox Judaism. Ultra-Orthodox men are often exempted from military service in order to pursue religious studies. Personal status laws for Jews are governed by the orthodox Chief Rabbinate, which supervises all marriages, divorces and burials. In the last decade, social tensions between secular and Orthodox groups have led to a number of disturbances including occasional feuds on public buses and at the Western Wall. In addition to Jews, the state recognizes a dozen religious communities, including Catholics and various Protestant and Orthodox Christian denominations. As a legacy of Ottoman-era law (when Islam was the dominant religion), Islam is not formally recognized by the state, but Muslims are granted the same rights as other religious minorities. Religious communities have significant autonomy in matters of personal status, family, and inheritance law, operating their own courts. Israeli Arabs are exempted from military service, but thus lose the benefits accorded to most of the rest of the population due to their veteran status. Security policies often complicate access to religious sites, particularly for Muslims in the West Bank, and the performance of religious obligations like the Hajj.