On the very day the High Court issued an anti-religious
ruling regarding conversion, Manof — The Center for
Jewish Information published a comprehensive study on the
High Court's rulings as they relate to Jewish issues. The
central figure emerging from the study: 80 percent of High
Court rulings are against Judaism. The comprehensive study
was conducted over the course of a year by a team of Manof
jurists. The study examined over 8,700 High Court rulings of
which 185 touched on religious issues during the past nine
years.
The study findings reveal that the number of anti-religious
High Court decisions during the past three years was nine
times the number of pro-religious decisions, and during the
past nine years the percentage of anti-religious rulings has
increased from 53 percent to 80 percent.
The study showed a clear correlation between the judges'
personal religious views and their rulings on religious
issues. Typically, religious judges ruled the opposite of
their secular colleagues although ostensibly both rely on the
letter of the law. Eighty percent of the judges have a
liberal-secular worldview, while only 40 percent of the
Jewish population of Israel is secular. (Seventy-five percent
of the judges are Ashkenazim.) Sixty-five percent of the
rulings by secular judges were unfavorable to Judaism,
compared to 31 percent of the rulings by religious judges.
The authors of the study said that the recent High Court
ruling in favor of recognizing Reform and Conservative
conversions performed abroad "joins the current trend in the
High Court's rulings according to which in issues associated
with religion and the religious the High Court adopts a clear
stance against religion. The High Court sees itself as a
formative leadership body with a radically anti-religious
ideology."
The study shatters the myth of objective judicial process,
showing that 64 percent of High Court decisions on religious
issues during the past nine years were opposed to Judaism.
The study also found 80 percent of rulings favored secularist
changes to the status quo regarding religion.
