Yair Lapid: What does it say about us that Israel has become the only democracy in the world in which Jews don’t have freedom of religion?

(written by lawrence krubner, however indented passages are often quotes). You can contact lawrence at: lawrence@krubner.com, or follow me on Twitter.

I don’t follow politics in Israel, but my mom does. I did not realize how bad things had gotten, till she pointed me to this article, about the arrest of a rabbi who committed the crime of marrying a couple in a Conservative way, rather than in an Orthodox way.

Haiyun said he was shocked by his detention and said Israel was becoming an Orthodox theocracy.

“Iran is here already. I am not an offender, not a murderer, not a criminal,” Haiyun said in interviews with Hebrew media. “I was amazed.”

“It is hard for me to think of a less Jewish thing on the eve of the 9th of Av,” Haiyun added, referring to the Hebrew date on which the Second Temple was destroyed. According to tradition, it was hatred among Jew that led to its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. A fast day to commemorate this event falls on Sunday.

Politicians, mostly from opposition parties, lamented Haiyun’s being hauled in by police and criticized the Orthodox control of the rabbinate.

Opposition MK Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, warned of how Haiyun’s detention would be perceived among US Jews, most of whom are not Orthodox.

“This is mad ultra-Orthodox coercion,” he said “Have we gone crazy? Think about world Jewry. What will the millions of Jews in the US think when they wake up this morning and hear that in Israeli affairs their beliefs and faith are a criminal offense? What does it say about us that Israel has become the only democracy in the world in which Jews don’t have freedom of religion? The religious establishment is convinced that if it controls Netanyahu, it controls the country.”

Post external references

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    https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-jews-fume-after-arrest-of-conservative-rabbi-over-weddings/
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