Development
Budget: 500 Million NIS
Support for
organizations
and various
programs: 1 Billion NIS
Number of
Employees: approximately 600
Number of Arab
Employees: 42→ 7%
Issue:
·
The budgets
intended for Jewish citizens are found in 76 budgetary items (religious
councils, religious education, monthly stipends for yeshiva students, support
for religious institutions, warehouse for ritual objects, activities for
spiritual absorption, support for seminaries, Orthodox Torah culture, Torah
study, Halachic research, etc.)
Just the financial support items that are not actually religious
services, and are available only to Jews, represent more than one billion NIS.
Even items that are
not unique to any particular religion, in effect relate only to
followers of the
Jewish religion.
·
The 38 million
NIS (2.4% of the budget) allocated to services for Arab citizens are found in
two budgetary items only (religious services, which relate to those of Jews as
well; and Muslim and Druze religious courts).
·
Following an
application by the Legal Advisor to the government, in 1995 the Ministry for
Religious Affairs prepared a “Program for New Arrangements for Muslim, Druze
and Christian Religious Services”.
According to this program, the budget was to have been increased by 7%
(!) at 1995 values. This program
has not as yet been implemented.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs’ budget sharply and harshly stresses
the discrimination against Arab citizens.
The Ministry’s budgetary items have designated recipients and no
measures have been taken to camouflage them. It would appear that there is overlapping between one’s
religion and his status in the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
In a precedent-setting decision of the Supreme Court on April 18th
this year, Judge Yitzchak Zamir determined: “The resources of the State,
whether land or money, as well as other resources, belong to all citizens, and
all citizens are entitled to benefit based on the principle of equality,
without discrimination based on religion, race or any other flawed reasoning”.
The appeal made by the “Adala” organization focused on the state of
neglect in Arab cemeteries, because of the Supreme Court’s persistent hesitation
in previous cases to render judgment in applications for general relief. This item is only one of many in which
blatant inequality is reflected.
Judge Zamir’s strongly worded statement, backed by Judge Aharon Barak
and Judge Dorit Beinish, in effect referred to the entire budget of the
Ministry of Religious Affairs, and without doubt to all other ministry budgets.