Archive for the ‘religion’ tag
Closed Society: January 7, 2013
A Bedouin man who attempted to pray in the Beer-Sheva Country Club was asked by the club’s security guards to stop praying and leave the premises. The guards threatened to cancel the man’s membership, and yelled at him “go to Tibi”.
(Hebrew – Walla!)
Political: February 3, 2012
A recent Ministry of Education questionnaire distributed recently at elementary schools contains questions about the degree of the students’ belief in God. The questionnaire states that affinity to religion could cure disease and improve quality of life. When approached for a comment, the Ministry replied that the questionnaire has been removed from circulation.
(Hebrew)
Military and Security Forces: 22 July, 2011
Outgoing IDF Personnel Directorate head Maj. Gen. Avi Zamir sent a farewell document to Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. According to the document, the IDF has gone too far in responding to the demands of rabbis, and that for this reason it is excluding women from high-ranking position. Examples cited in the document include a battalion commander refusing female staff officers, the decreasing number of training posts for female soldiers, and combat troops refusing to accept female sharpshooting instructors.
Military and Security Forces: July 6, 2011
Shabak (Israel Security Agency, ISA), almost prevented a soldier who grew up in a religious home from servicing in an elite unit of the Air Force, because he testified that he used to drink alcohol as part of religious ceremonies in Jewish holidays. An ISA psychiatrist characterized the behavior of the soldier as ”pathological drinking.”
(Hebrew)
Closed Society: 11 January, 2011
“Immodest” images of women used in municipal tax booklets published by the Rishon LeZion municipality offended one of the city’s residents: “When I saw this booklet I threw it out of my house”. The Deputy Mayor, Arie Cohen (Shas) said: “My wife threw it away and unfortunately I will not be able to benefit from the information in this booklet”. The municipality has not issued a response.
Closed Society: 9 December, 2010
The 2010 Worldwide Corruption Survey reports that 88 percent of the population believe political parties in Israel are corrupt. The survey responders ranked the degree of corruption in various institutions in Israel on a scale 1 to 5. Political parties received the lowest ranking, with an average 4.5 corruption ranking. Approximately 82 percent of survey respondents said that government efforts to fight corruption are inefficient. The Knesset and religious organizations received an average 4.0 ranking, and the police received an average 3.5 ranking. (Hebrew)
