The Central District Court ruled on Sunday that Israel's Interior Ministry must recognize hundreds of online marriages registered through Zoom in the US state of Utah, Kan 11 News reported.
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The decision by Judge Efrat Fink means that Israeli couples can now wed in a civil ceremony without leaving the country.
Israel has yet to instate civil marriage over the objections of the ultra-Orthodox establishment. Israeli law does not allow for civil marriage and all state-recognized ceremonies must be in line with religious law. However, Interior Ministry regulations state that a marriage must be registered, even if it was performed abroad, meaning that Israeli couples who marry overseas can present documents that prove their marriage and be recognized as such.
This forces hundreds of Israeli couples who seek civil marriage – either because they are not eligible for a religious service under the Chief Rabbinate's rules or because a religious service does not reflect their beliefs – to travel overseas to wed.
The global pandemic that paralyzed air travel in 2020 and part of 2021 prompted hundreds of couples to turn to online services, in what has been dubbed "Zoom weddings" and "the Utah marriage." But the state refused to validate them as the couples in question married on Israeli soil.
Last year, then-Interior Minister Aryeh Deri instructed to freeze the procedure after only three marriages were recognized by the Population Authority, prompting dozens of couples to seek legal action.
Uri Regev, president and CEO at the Hiddush for Religious Freedom and Equality NGO welcomed the ruling and called on the Population Authority and Interior Ministry to implement it without delay, saying that "Utah marriage" presents hundreds of thousands of Israelis who cannot or do not wish to marry in religious ceremonies with the opportunity to do wed.
Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzano said the ruling "is important and just, and it simply states the obvious – a couple who marries abroad (even via Zoom) must be recognized in Israel. I urge the state not to appeal this ruling."
Uri Keidar, executive director of Be Free Israel, an NGO that advocates for policy change on issues of religion and state in Israel, welcomed the ruling as well, but noted "it still leaves couples at the Rabbinate's mercy in case of divorce."
All divorce proceedings in Israel must be validated by the Chief Rabbinate, regardless of whether a couple was wed in a religious ceremony.
Urging the government to instate civil marriage, Keidar said, "A country that asks its citizens to risk their lives on its borders in order to protect it must also allow them to marry within its borders."
MK Avi Maoz, head the Noam faction – an extremist faction known for its hardline anti-LGBTQ, anti-Reform positions – slammed the ruling, telling Kan 11 News that the court is "ignoring policy that has been in effect for decades. It's unthinkable that judges in Israel undermine the Jewish state and carry out a quiet coup to make Israel a people's state. God willing, this will be rectified soon," he said, alluding to the Nov. 1 general elections.
The concept of "a people's state" negates Israel's character as a Jewish state, stresses the need for absolute equality for all ethnic groups and denominations and advocates said equality be expressed by all state symbols, institutions and laws, in a way meant to create a unified national identity for all Israeli citizens.
Deri, who heads the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas, urged Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to intervene and suspend the ruling.
"It is inconceivable that fateful rulings that affect Israel's very character will be made by a single district court judge."
The prolonged monopoly claimed by the Chief Rabbinate on all things marriage has seen the number of secular couples seeking to marry through recognized drop steadily in recent years.
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