The couple was divorced in a civil court six years ago, but the man refuses to give the woman a get - the document that will allow her to remarry according to Jewish Law. She therefore has the status of an agunah - a "chained" woman who retains her married status and is forbidden to marry anyone else.
Rabbi Eliyahu Ben-Dahan, director-general of the Rabbinical Court System, said that the woman happened to learn that her former husband would be visiting Israel - and her lawyer turned to the rabbinical court for its intervention. The court then issued a restraining order preventing him from leaving Israel until he gives her the get. "The minute he gives it, he'll be able to leave," Rabbi Ben-Dahan said.
The woman's plan has not yet succeeded, however. The man turned to the Supreme Court, demanding that he be allowed to leave. The Court has not yet responded, but Rabbi Ben-Dahan is optimistic: "The Supreme Court knows that this is the only place that can force the man to allow his former wife to get on with her life," he told Arutz-7 today. "I don't believe that it will let him get away without doing this."
The issue was important enough for French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier to bring it up with his Israeli colleague Silvan Shalom during his visit to Israel a month ago. Shalom responded that the case is under Supreme Court adjudication, and is therefore not a matter for diplomats to solve.