The Bennett-Lapid government is implementing significant reforms in religion and state that were set at the time of the signing of the coalition agreements.
Additional legislative initiatives such as civil marriage, a work permit on Shabbat for males over the age of 16, the abolition of the committee approving abortions and more are expected to be brought up for votes in the coming months.
Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana clarified to his partners that what was not agreed in the coalition agreements will be promoted only with the broad agreement of all coalition factions.
One of the dramatic initiatives is that of MK Sharren Haskel (New Hope) who sought to promote a consular marriage law: recognition of marriages that take place at foreign consulates located in Israel.
Kahana vetoed the bill, but recently the Lapid bloc has begun to speculate about how the bill can still be promoted. Kahana has announced that he can support consular marriages in exchange for repealing the grandchild section in the Law of Return, a section that the national camp has tried to repeal in recent years but which was blocked by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Kahana believes that the repeal of the grandson's clause is critical to maintaining the Jewish identity of the state.