Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Knesset Committee Paves the Way for Civil Unions

A Knesset committee has made it possible for a civil unions law to be implemented in Israel.

The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Wednesday approved a registration fee of about $165 for couples to obtain a civil marriage.

The law, passed in March and set to be implemented next week, will allow non-Jewish Israelis or those without a religious denomination to be recognized as married.

The law will allow thousands of Israelis who previously had to travel abroad to marry to do so legally in Israel. Lawmaker David Rotem of the Israel Beiteinu party, initiator of the legislation, said he will now try to broaden the law to allow all Israelis, including Jews, to be married civilly.

About 60,000 people in Israel are considered to be of no denomination, according to Ynet.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.