Fighting for the Right to Marry in Israel

"The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival." Skinner v. Oklahoma, (1942), United States Supreme Court.

You may be shocked to learn that some 350,000 Israelis are unable to legally marry in their own country. Yes, you read that correctly – according to the current arrangement, couples who want their union to be recognized by the state must wed within one of the “recognized religions.” The problem is that over a quarter of a million Israeli descendants of Jews (mostly new immigrants from the former Soviet Union) are not recognized by any religion and are therefore barred from exercising their most basic right to marry and establish families. This antiquated system, a remnant of pre-1920s Ottoman rule, has been held in place over the years by pressure from the ultra-orthodox parties in the Knesset, who see it as a means to limit the rights of those who do not conform to their narrow-minded worldview.

On July 19th, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation ("MCL") approved a bill to recognize civil marriages between a man and woman who both have no official religion. Interfaith marriage would still be prohibited. Several days before the MCL's meeting, we at the Jerusalem Institute of Justice submitted a position paper to the Ministry of Legal Affairs with outlining our criticism of the bill. While the MCL was meeting, we organized a demonstration in front of the Prime Minister’s office protesting the bill, which we see as nothing more than a show to offset rising pressure against the religious parties’ stranglehold on Israeli society. In our view, every Israeli should be able to marry the spouse of their choosing, regardless of religious beliefs, race or citizenship. The Israeli media covered our demonstration, and Russian TV aired a special segment followed by a live talk show the next evening.

The bill in question was sponsored by the Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party, which previously had a coalition deal implying that the government must allow all citizens to marry regardless of religion. After joining the coalition, though, the party dropped the demand as part of a bargain aimed at satisfying the religious parties in the government. The Jerusalem Institute of Justice called on Yisrael Beiteinu to fulfill its pre-election promises and to not contribute to the current ghetto-like situation of those who have no official religion.

The civil marriage amendment passed its first Knesset reading on the night of July 20th. Please click here  to read Ynet’s coverage of the matter. The bill, brought before the Knesset by Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman, is a compromise that would establishing a new, separate group of citizens who are allowed to marry one another as long as they don't marry a Jew. This strategy is a sure path to division and fragmentation, and strongly resembles the racist laws prevalent in early 1900s America which prohibited interracial marriage. The US Supreme Court dealt a fatal blow to these laws some 60 years ago, and we see it as a disgrace that Israel, which touts itself as a liberal democracy, still discriminates again its citizens on the basis of religion.

Should the bill mature into law, it would limit all Former Soviet Union immigrants to marry only within the community of the non-Halachically Jewish. Although the legal system in Israel is primarily secular and liberal, marriage and divorce are currently adjudicated only in religious courts and are subject to religious law. Accordingly, those who desire to marry or divorce are obligated to do so in a religious ceremony even if they hold no religious beliefs. The new bill would allow immigrants with no religion to marry each other in a civil ceremony, but would not change the situation for couples with only one Jewish partner. While such couples may currently marry within the framework of a religion other than Judaism or in a civil ceremony performed abroad, their marriage holds no legal water if it is performed in their home country. The growing population of some 350,000 men and women in Israel, whose mothers are not Jewish and who are not willing to be "reborn" with a new name by means of a conversion process that forces them to accept strict laws that are foreign to them, are left stranded. Agreeing to this kind of rabbinical supervision would be hypocritical; as anyone can observe, the majority of Israelis don’t abide by said strict laws and the Chief Rabbinate can do nothing.

The situation in Israel is below deplorable and would not be tolerated in any other Western democracy. Our nation, which on one hand professes to be “liberal” and guarantees equal rights to all, still employs a feudalistic and discriminatory system aimed at strengthening the societal hegemony of ultra-orthodox power brokers. Through all of this, we thank you for your continued support of our ongoing battle for civil rights, human dignity, and social equality in the Holy Land.
 

Some 350,000 Israelis are unable to legally marry in their own country

JIJ Demonstrators Protesting the New Bill