Religion 'should govern Israel'
2009-12-08 17:08
Jerusalem - Israeli Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman said on Tuesday that he intends to have the state gradually adopt Jewish religious law.
"Step by step we will impose on Israeli citizens the laws of the Torah and we will make the laws of Halacha [Jewish religious law] the governing law of the state," Neeman said in comments aired on public radio.
"We have to impose the heritage of our forefathers on the nation. The Torah has all the answers to the questions that concern us," he said.
At present in Israel, religious law only applies to issues of birth, marriage and death.
'Dangerous'
There was no immediate comment from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the statement, but opposition chief Tzipi Livni of the centrist Kadima party quickly slammed them as dangerous.
"The statement by Mr Neeman should worry every Israeli citizen who cares about democracy," Livni told reporters.
The head of the left-wing Meretz party Haim Oron said that the comments "are worrying proof of the Talibanisation of Israeli society" - a reference to the Islamist movement that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
As Neeman's remarks stirred a storm of criticism, his ministry insisted they "were not a call for Jewish religious law to replace the laws of the state of Israel, either directly or indirectly".
"Neeman spoke in broad and general terms about restoring the spirit of Jewish law and about the importance of Jewish law to the life of the country," the ministry said in a statement
Some 20% of the Israeli population is Arab, mostly Muslims with a Christian minority.
- SAPA