Hiddush, the Israeli nonprofit that lobbies for freedom of and from
religion and for issues in support of civil society, wants the new
Knesset to rectify decades of wrongs done to Israeli citizens by
successive Knessets.
Religious Freedom Group Asks Knesset To Pass New Basic Law That Would Break Haredi Monopoly Over Religious Services And Marriage
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Hiddush, the Israeli nonprofit that lobbies for freedom of and from religion and for issues in support of civil society, wants the new Knesset to rectify decades of wrongs done to Israeli citizens by successive Knessets.
"The Declaration of Independence promised the citizens of Israel religious freedom and equal rights…with no differentiation between religions. After 65 years, [Israelis] are asking to bring this promise to fruition,” Hiddush heads Rabbi Uri Regev and Shahar Ilan wrote in a letter to members of the new Knesset.
The letter asks members of Knesset to pass a new Basic Law, Freedom of Religion and Conscience, which would be added to the 14 Basic Laws Israel already has
According to Israel HaYom, this new Basic Law would “stipulate that any school that does not teach a full core curriculum in compliance with Education Ministry rules would be denied public funding. The law would also categorize the exclusion of women as a criminal offense, provide equal stipends for each child rather than discriminating in favor of large families, and cancel subsidies for nonworking young men studying in yeshivas.”
Hiddush also wants the 19th Knesset to legalize civil marriage, thereby breaking the haredi monopoly over Jewish marriage in Israel. It also wants the state to accept all Jewish conversions, no matter which Jewish movement did them. And it also wants public transportation on Shabbat and a loosening of the haredi monopoly over kosher supervision.
"It is highly likely that the failure of the 18th Knesset in the fields of religious freedom and equality of burden is one of the main reasons the public sent almost half of the former Knesset members home. We hope that the current Knesset will fulfill the public's high hopes and fulfill the mandate granted them to carry out a civil revolution," Regev and Shahar Ilan wrote.