A bill to recognize civil marriages between two partners who have no official religion received partial government approval Sunday. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the first part of the bill, which would allow for official recognition of non-religious marriages between partners with no religion.
The bill was sponsored by the Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party. Party head Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the faction would present the bill to the Knesset before the annual summer break.
In Israel, couples that want their union to be recognized by the state must wed within a recognized religion. The current law has angered couples whose marriage is not permitted under religious law, or who do not wish to marry in a religious ceremony.
In addition, the law has presented a problem for roughly 270,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union who do not identify with any religion. As one of its demands upon joining the coalition, Yisrael Beiteinu insisted that the government find a solution allowing such immigrants to marry each other within the country.
The new bill would allow immigrants with no religion to marry each other, but will not change the situation for couples where one partner is Jewish and the other is not. While such couples may marry in the framework of a religion other than Judaism, or in a civil ceremony performed abroad, if they choose to marry in a secular ceremony in Israel the union will not be recognized.
When it joined the coalition, Yisrael Beiteinu dropped a demand to allow civil ceremonies between Jews and non-Jews, as part of a deal that aimed to satisfy both Yisrael Beiteinu and religious parties in the government.
In June, Yisrael Beiteinu was one of the parties to vote against a civil marriage bill proposed by Kadima MK Shlomo Mula. Members of Yisrael Beiteinu accused Mula of proposing the bill in order to create a stir, and not due to a true desire to fix the problem of couples with no recognized religion who wish to marry.
MK Mula himself voted against a similar bill in 2008, they pointed out. Mula claimed that he voted against the earlier bill due to differences between the previous government and the current one.