Knesset approves bill allowing civil marriage for ‘non-religious’ Israelis

17 March 2010

The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, has passed, by 56 votes to 4, a bill that for the first time allows Israelis that have no religious affiliation to conclude a civil marriage. The bill was introduced by the Yisrael Beiteinu party led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Religious parties boycotted the vote in the Knesset.

The new law will allow Israelis without a religious affiliation to register a civil marriage with a special registrar, a position that has yet to be created. It will help about 10 percent of couples who want a civil marriage, according to estimates. Under the current law, only civil marriages concluded abroad are recognized in Israel, which has led to a large number of Israeli couples marrying abroad.

Several Knesset members said the new law did not go far enough and filibustered the vote for nearly three hours. Some opponents expressed concern that it would increase the power of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate by extending it the right to weigh in on whether or not an Israeli citizen listed as “without religion” was actually ‘religionless’. Critics said the bill only permitted citizens without religion to wed other citizens without religion, which represented a tiny percentage of those seeking to marry in a non-religious ceremony.

Although the bill was part of the government agreement last year, the Orthodox Shas Party – which is part of the governing coalition – at the last minute rescinded its support for the bill. Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said that as long as no deal had been reached on the controversial conversion bill, Shas would not support the civil union measure either.

Marriages in Israel are performed under the auspices of the religious community to which the couple belongs. Matrimonial law is based on a system first employed during the Ottoman Empire. It was not modified during the British Mandate and remains in force in the State of Israel. The religious authority for Jewish marriages is the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, while marriages among Christians, Muslims and Druze are under the jurisdiction of their own religious authorities.

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