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Interior Minister Avraham Poraz would like to allow civil marriages for all Israelis, but he is limited by coalition agreements.
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| By Ellis Shuman March 3, 2003 |
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Newly installed Justice Minister Yosef (Tommy) Lapid plans to introduce legislation that will allow civil marriages in Israel for Jews denied the right to marry according to Halacha (Jewish law). Interior Minister Avraham Poraz says he will grant Israeli citizenship to the non-Jewish parents of Israeli soldiers. "You are witnessing a revolution here," Poraz told the press as five ministers from Shinui took office on Sunday.
According to Yediot Aharonot, a draft version of a civil marriage bill was prepared by members of Shinui and approved by the National Religious Party during coalition negotiations clarifying issues of religion and state. The proposed legislation will grant "every person the basic right to marry and raise a family. In Israel today, there are many citizens who can't exercise this right," the newspaper reported.
The civil marriage legislation will allow citizens and residents of Israel to marry if they are today considered "rejected by Halacha," for example: a man and a woman not of the same religion, or of a recognized religion. Problems of this type exist among many new immigrants from Ethiopia.
The civil marriage law will not allow two recognized Jewish Israelis to marry in a civil ceremony instead of a religious one. Poraz announced that he would not allow same-sex marriages at this stage.
According to the proposal, an official in the Justice Ministry would list and recognize couples who held civil ceremonies as being married, thus saving them from the need to undertake their marriage vows overseas.
Poraz said he wanted to institute civil marriages for everyone, but the coalition agreements limited this only to those who cannot marry according to Jewish law.
"Today there are some 300,000 'Halacha rejects' in Israel, and I estimate that each year we will be able to allow hundreds of them to marry," Poraz said.
Immediately after he replaced Eli Yishai (Shas) at the Interior Ministry, Poraz announced that he had granted temporary resident status for three years to Natalya Senikova, whose 22-year-old son Sergei was killed in the Dolphinarium suicide bombing attack in June 2001. The ministry had previously refused to grant Senikova resident status due to charges that she entered the country illegally.
"She was about to be deported," Poraz said. "I decided to allow her to remain and we will check into her situation."
Poraz said he would institute a more liberal policy towards non-Jews wishing to live in Israel. "Whoever is non-Jewish and wishes to live in Israel, will be allowed to do so. We will introduce a set of civil criteria for them, and each case will be dealt with separately," he said.
"I will grant Israeli citizenship to the non-Jewish parents of IDF soldiers," Poraz added. "If we want them to serve in the army, we must also care for their parents."
Poraz said he would not force local authorities to prevent the sale of non-Kosher meats, including pork, in their districts. "Whoever wants this, should be allowed to buy it. The only thing we will ask is that the stores declare they are selling non-Kosher meat."
Poraz said he was still studying the issue of the Ethiopian Falashmura - descendents of Jews who converted to Christianity. The government recently adopted a plan prepared by Yishai to bring 20,000 members of the group to Israel. Poraz said before he brought the Falashmura to Israel he wanted to make sure the country had the resources to absorb them.
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