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Religion in Israel is a complex subject. Both ethnically and religiously Israel is an explicitly Jewish state. At 77% Judaism is the most wide-spread religion in Israel, and it is official policy to preserve this aspect of the country's character. Israel, however, is not a theocracy and other religions are respected. Muslims make up 16% of the population, while the remainder are Christian or unspecified.
Religious breakdown
At the end of 2003, of Israel's 6.7 million people, 76.7% were (by religion) Jewish, 15.8% were Muslim, 2.1% were Christian, 1.6% were Druze and the remaining 3.7% (including Russian immigrants and some Jews) were not classified by religion.
6% of Israeli Jews define themselves as Haredim ("ultra-orthodox"); an additional 9% are "religious"; 34% consider themselves "traditionalists" (not strictly adhering to Jewish law or halakha) ; and 51% are "secular". Among the seculars, 53% believe in God.
Of the Arab Israelis 82.3% are Muslim, 9% are Christian and 8.5% are Druze.
Religion and citizenship
Israel was founded to provide a national home, safe from persecution, to the Jewish people. Although Israeli law explicitly grants equal civil rights to all citizens regardless of religion, ethnicity, or other heritage, it gives preferential treatment in certain aspects to individuals who fall within the criteria mandated by the Law of Return.
The criteria set forth by the Law of Return is controversial. It differs from Jewish religious law in that it disqualifies individuals who are ethnically Jewish but who converted to another religion; and also in that it grants immigrant status to individuals who are not ethnically Jewish but are related to Jews.
While the Law of Return is directly concerned with non-citizens, certain Israeli laws have used the phrase "persons who would have benefited from the Law of Return had they been outside the borders of Israel" in order to define which citizens of Israel will benefit from different programs.
Judaism in Israel
The great majority of citizens in the State of Israel are Jewish; the great majority of Israeli Jews practice Judaism as their religion.
While Judaism has always affirmed a number of other Jewish Principles of Faith, it has never developed a fully binding catechism. While individual rabbis, or sometimes entire groups, at times agreed upon a firm dogma, other rabbis and groups disagreed. With no central agreed-upon authority, no one formulation of Jewish principles of faith could take precedent over any other. Judaism's core belief, however, firmly remains a binding principle agreed upon by Jews of all backgrounds: the belief in one incorporeal God.
In the last two centuries the other largest Jewish community in the world, in the United States, has divided into a number of Jewish denominations. The largest and most influential of these denominations are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Reform Judaism.
All of the above denominations exist, to varying degrees, in the State of Israel. Nevertheless, Israelis tend to classify Jewish identity in ways that are strikingly different than diaspora Jewry.
Most Jewish Israelis classify themselves as "secular" (hiloni) or as "traditional" (masorti). The former term is more popular among Israeli families of western origin, and the latter term among Israeli families of "eastern" origin (i.e. Middle East, central Asia and North Africa). The latter term, as commonly used, has nothing to do with the official "Masorti" (Conservative) movement in the State of Israel. There is ambiguity in the ways these two terms are used. They often overlap, and they cover an extremely wide range in terms of ideology and religious observance.
The term "Orthodox" is not used in Israel. The common term (dati) is unpopular in Israeli discourse (among both "secular" and "religious" alike). Nevertheless, the spectrum covered by "Orthodox" in the diaspora exists in Israel, again with some important variations. The "Orthodox" spectrum in Israel is a far greater percentage of the Jewish population in Israel than in the diaspora, though how much greater is hotly debated. Various ways of measuring this percentage, each with its pros and cons, include the proportion of religiously observant Knesset members, the proportion of Jewish children enrolled in religious schools, and statistical studies on "identity".
What would be called "Orthodox" in the diaspora includes what is commonly called dati (religious) or haredi (ultra-Orthodox) in Israel. The former term includes what is called Religious Zionism or the "National Religious" community, as well as what has become known over the past decade or so as haredi-leumi (nationalist ultra-Orthodox), which combines a largely haredi lifestyle with nationist ideology.
Haredi applies to a populace that can be roughly divided into three separate groups along both ethnic and ideological lines: (1) "Lithuanian" (non-hasidic) haredim of Ashkenazic origin; (2) Hasidic haredim of Ashkenazic origin; and (3) Sephardic haredim. The third group is the largest, and has been the most politically active since the early 1990s.
Gallup International reports that 25 percent of Israeli citizens regularly attend religious services, compared to 15 percent of Jewish French citizens, 10 percent of Jewish UK citizens, and 57 percent of Jewish American citizens.
Role of the Chief Rabbinate
It was during the British Mandate of Palestine that the British administration established an official dual Ashkenazi-Sefardi "Chief Rabbinate" (rabbanut harashit) that was exclusivley Orthodox, as part of an effort to organize Jewish life. In 1921, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1864-1935) was chosen as the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi and Rabbi Yaakov Meir as the first Sefardi Chief Rabbi. Prior to the 1917 British conquest of Palestine, the Ottoman's had recognized the leading Talmudic rabbis of the old yishuv (" Chief Rabbi").
Thus the dominance and centrality of an Orthodox dominated Chief Rabbinate became part of the new state of Israel when it was established in 1948. Based in its centarl offices at Heichal Shlomo in Jerusalem the Israeli Chief rabbinate has conitued to wield exclusive control over the religious aspects of the secular state of Israel. Through a national network of Batei Din ("religious courts") each headed only by approved Orthodox Av Beit Din judges, as well as a network of "religious Councils" that are part of each municipality, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate retains exclusive control and has the final say in the state about virtually all matters pertaining to conversion to Judaism, the Kosher certification of foods, the status of Jewish marriages and divorces, and monitering and acting when called upon supervise the observance of some laws relating to Shabbat, Passover (particularly when issues concerning Chametz come up), the observance of the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also relies on the Chief Rabbinate's approval for its own Jewish chaplains who are exclusively Orthodox. In fact the IDF has a number of units that cater to the unique religious requirements of the Religious Zionist yeshiva students through the Hesder program of combined alternating military service and yeshiva studies over several years.
Islam in Israel
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Religious tensions
The State of Israel generally allows freedom of religion for all religious communities, both in law and in practice, as Freedom House reports: "Freedom of religion is respected. Each community has jurisdiction over its own members in matters of marriage, burial, and divorce." However, some minority religious communities face social pressure and, on occasion, obstruction from the government.
Religious tensions exist between Haredi Israelis and non-Haredi Israelis. Haredi Israelis generally get exemptions from military service, and higher percantges of Haredi Jews rely on government assistance than do the rest of Israelis. Haredi Israelis are also represented by Haredi political parties, which, because of Israel's electoral system, tend to wield disproportionate political power. As a result, secular Israelis often view Haredi Israelis with distrust or animosity. The Shinui political party was created primarily to combat Haredi parties, and represent the interests of secular Jews against them.
Tensions also exist between the Orthodox establishment and the Conservative and Reform movements. In Israel the Orthodox Jewish movements are by far the largest, with Conservative and Reform being quite small (in marked contrast to the United States, the country with the largest number of Jews). Only the Orthodox Jewish movements are officially recognized in Israel (though Conservative and Reform conversions may be accepted for the purposes of the Law of Return). As a result, unlike Orthodox Synagogues (or Muslim mosques or Christian churches) Conservative and Reform synagogues do not receive government funding and support. Conservative and Reform rabbis cannot officiate at religious ceremonies; thus their marriages, divorces, and conversions are not considered valid. In addition, there has been persistent tension, and even alleged outbreaks of violence, at the Western Wall, where Conservative and Reform Jews have been unable to hold services.
Messianic Jews, who believe Jesus was the Messiah, have allegedly faced frequent hostility and intermittent attacks. In 2000 a Messianic church was raided in Jerusalem and its Bible scroll stolen A congregation in Arad faced demonstrations and an arson attack in 2005. . Christians in Jerusalem's Old City complain of frequent spitting by Jewish yeshiva students. One local Armenian Apostolic bishop declared in October 2004 that such incidents occurred at least once a week. In May 2003, Israeli government officials destroyed a newly-built Bedouin mosque in the village of Tal el-Malah after villagers defied a government ban on building a mosque to serve the local 1,500 Muslims. The nearest mosque was more than 12 kms away. Permission has been denied for Muslims to build mosques in other Bedouin villages.
Israel is also sometimes accused of acts of persecution against Palestinians, although even critics of Israel do not see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Arab-Israeli conflict as being primarily religiously motivated. While these conflicts may use religious overtones or rhetoric, they are generally considered military and political struggles.