Israel Is Not A Tolerant Society, Says US State Department

Saturday November 07, 2009 18:22 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

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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.

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