I've been focusing on economics lately, but the issue of the Chereidiban in Israel under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate is never far from my mind. I received today an "urgent" email from a group who apparently just noticed that the UO in Israel is working diligently to invalidate all non-chereidi/uo conversions and take away the right to make aliyah under the law of return to any converts or "non-observant" Jews (and as regular readers know, "non-observant" means "not uo/chereidi" according to the Israeli Chief Rabbinate).

As most of you know, the law that is currently under consideration would be a big victory for the Chereidi/UO parties. The only way that the right of return, the right to freedom of religious practice, the right to marry and other basic human rights can be upheld in Israel is if the government steps in to make constitution-level documentation guaranteeing those rights and taking the power over civil issues such as aliyah and marriage away from the Chereidiban authorities.

YNet News Online
Turning into theocracy
No other democracy forces religious identity on citizens in order to wed
by: Yair Rotkovich
Published: 03.09.10, 18:17 / Israel Opinion
[hat tip: Failed Messiah]

“The marriage and divorce of Jews in Israel shall be premised on Torah laws,” Israel’s existing legislation stipulates. The moment the new civil marriage bill, which is seemingly meant to enable “Israelis without religion” to “wed” in Israel, will be passed, our laws will receive new religious backwind.

From now on, religious monitoring will not only be imposed on “whole” Jews, but also on “half Jews” – that is, citizens who only have a Jewish father and who constitute most “Israelis without religion” in this country. (Notably, these people are Jewish just like anybody else according…