How does Israels legal system protect human rights and basic freedoms?
All citizens of Israel – regardless of their race, religion or sex – enjoy equal rights and protections under the law. This principle dates to the founding document of modern Israel, the May 1948 Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel. This declaration of independence proclaimed that the State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Although the Declaration is not a legally binding constitutional document, it maintains its influence as a guiding principle in the interpretation of laws. Its centrality was acknowledged in the1992 Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, which explicitl
