Supreme Court President Aharon Barak dropped a potential bombshell Sunday, June 18, when he said Israelis are being deprived of their rights by being prohibited from marrying in civil ceremonies.
Responding to questions from a delegation of U.S. Conservative Jews, Barak said, “The lack of civil marriage in Israel is a major violation of human rights.” He was referring to failed attempts by Israeli political leaders to legislate some form of marriage or “civil union” for those who don’t want or can’t have Orthodox weddings.
According to the law, all Israeli citizens must marry under the auspices of their faith, and mixed marriages are not allowed. The Orthodox stream controls the religious courts in the Jewish sector.
During the term of the 16th Knesset, from 1984 to 1986, a special committee was established by the coalition government at the insistence of the now-defunct Shinui Party to address the issue. However, the committee collapsed.
Shinui then drafted its own law to allow Israelis to be married in a non-religious ceremony and be accorded all the rights of those married in religious ceremonies. Soon after, however, Shinui resigned from the government and the initiative died.
Since then, the New Family organization headed by Irit Rosenblum and attorney Michael Corinaldi have been pressing the Supreme Court to hear petitions paving the way for consuls of foreign embassies in Israel to marry couples if one of them is a citizen of the foreign state.
Rosenblum has also indicated that New Family intended to petition the court to order the Interior Ministry to register any Israeli couple united in a civil ceremony as married.