Young Israel Slams Critical U.S. Report

The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) has condemned a U.S. State Department report that criticizes Israel for alleged religious discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox Jews.  The report put Israel in the same category as Afghanistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iran in terms of religious freedom.
"Although Israel was established as a Jewish State in 1948, it has spent the past six decades actively encouraging and facilitating freedom of religion for all of its citizens," said NCYI President Shlomo Mostofsky.  "Equating Israel, the United States' sole democratic ally in the Middle East region, with rogue nations that actively suppress the free exercise of religion is unjust and uncalled for."
The State Department report acknowledged that, "government policy contributed to the generally free practice of religion,” but claimed, “governmental and legal discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism continued."