Human rights in Israel have been evaluated by various human rights treaty bodies, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and individuals, often in relation to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict which forms part of the wider Arab-Israeli conflict and Israel internal politics.
When analyzing Israel's human rights records, a distinction between Israel proper and the territories that it currently occupies will be made. Israel proper is a multiparty parliamentary democracy, and while it is described as a Jewish state in the Declaration of Independence, it includes religious and ethnic minorities. Some of these minorities claim de facto discrimination. In the Palestinian territories, successive Israeli governments have been subject to international criticism by governments and human rights groups worldwide. While Israel does not have a constitution, it has a set of Basic Laws, intended to form the basis of a future constitution. One of those Basic Laws, Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, serves as one of the major tools for defending human rights and civil liberties.
Read more about Human Rights In Israel: Declaration of Independence, Treatment of Prisoners, Freedom of Speech and The Media, Right To Privacy, Women's Rights, LGBT Rights, Ethnic Minorities, Anti-discrimination and Immigration Laws, Education, Migrant Workers, People With Disabilities, Human Trafficking, Privatization and Human Rights, Human Rights Record in The Occupied Territories
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—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
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—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 8 (1962)
“appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Samuel 8:5.
Leaders of ancient Israel asking the last of the judges, Samuel, to appoint a king.