The Central District Court ruled in a precedent-setting decision that the State will be required to register as married Israeli citizens who married 'abroad' in a civil ceremony via ZOOM, even if they never physically leave Israel's borders, Reshet Bet reported.
According to the report, the State has the option of appealing to the Supreme Court. Should the Supreme Court uphold the ruling, the State will have no choice but to recognize these ZOOM marriages.
Hundreds of LGBT couples have taken advantage of this method of marriage and have been waiting for the court ruling to recognize their marriages as legal, including Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll.
The legal saga began after the Population Authority registered as married three couples who married at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in a "civil marriage" on ZOOM, through the state of Utah in the United States, without leaving Israel.
Then-Interior Minister Aryeh Deri decided to freeze the State's recognition of the marriages, a position which was continued by current Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.
Judge Efrat Fink ruled that the participants' failure to leave the country in order to perform the marriage ceremony did not constitute a disqualifying unwillingness to engage in the actions necessary to have their marriages recognized, and therefore there was no reason not to recognize the marriages as legal.