Israel Is Not A Tolerant Society, Says US State Department

Saturday November 07, 2009 09:22 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies



Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that according to a new report by the U.S State Department, Israel fails all requirements of a tolerant pluralistic society.


The report added that Israel does not show enough tolerance towards minorities, falls short in equality for ethnic groups, and is not showing openness towards the streams of its society and the respect towards holy sites and other historic sites, Haaretz reported.

The American report was written by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

It indicated that Israel is discriminating against Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christians, women, Bedouins, and even against Reform Jews.

The report also states that although Israel has a law in place since 1967 regarding the protection of all holy sites in Jerusalem, it still applies protection regulations to Jewish sites but not to other sites as the state does not officially consider non-Jewish sites as holy places.

Haaretz further reported that all 137 sites officially recognized a holy are Jewish, and thus neglecting several Muslim and Christian holy sites, therefore, the non-Jewish holy sites are subject to exploitation by Israeli authorities and real estate entrepreneurs.

The discrimination even reached more than 300.000 immigrants who are allegedly Jewish but are not recognized as such by the rabbinical law, therefore they cannot get married or divorced in the country, and cannot be buried in its cemeteries.

http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57044

Wait, you mean to tell me Israel isn't a utopia for people of all backgrounds and religions?

Well this is news! [sarcasm/]

In all seriousness though, we can hardly act surprised by such an assertion. Israel has always favoured Jews, always will.

Not huge news. Israel hates anybody that doesnt agree with them. Even reform left wing Jews. There was a story where a left wing Israeli was trying to help Palestinians rebuild their homes, when he came back to Israel he was beaten up by right wing extremists.

This is coming from the US state department though. There must have been a breakthrough somewhere if America is criticising Israel.

not only does Israel treat none Jews badly, they treat Jews badly as well! if you are a yemeni Jew, african Jew, and in certain cases a Russian Jew, they will treat you badly and look down on you.

Israel has always been a society characterised by rampant iniquity and injustice. It will never implement measures to confer equal rights on minorities.

The international community if not careful, will allow the situation to deteriorate so dramatically and irreversibly, it will become a case of another Rwanda or Cambodia. Not that they haven't already undertaken attempts to ethnically cleanse Palestine of its native inhabitants.

Well, this isn't anything new...I'm not agreeing, but many people have already said this.