Knesset panel advances bill to expand rabbinical courts’ power over civil matters
Critics have warned of the bill’s democratic implications, including those involving women’s rights, which may deepen the rift between the haredi and secular communities.
The Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee voted on Tuesday in favor of advancing a bill that would expand the power of rabbinical courts in Israel to act as arbitrators in limited civil matters.
The religious courts arbitration bill is expected to soon be brought for its final readings in the Knesset’s plenum. It passed in its first reading in November by a margin of 63-43 and has been debated in the Knesset committee.
Critics have expressed concern thatwomen’s rights could be harmed due to the nature of the rabbinic courts.
Opponents have also warned of broader democratic implications, arguing that the legislation may deepen division between the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community and the rest of Israeli society.
The bill was initiated by MK Moshe Gafni and former MK Yisrael Eichler of the haredi United Torah Judaism party (UTJ), as well as MKs Ya’akov Asher and Yinon Azoulay from the Sephardic haredi Shas Party.
THE RABBINICAL court of Tel Aviv. It has been said that rabbinical courts allow men to hold back consent to divorce their wives in order to extort the women into agreeing to unfair overall terms. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
New responsibilities granted to rabbinical courts if bill passes
Rabbinical courts would only be able to act as arbitrators if all sides agreed, the proposal states. The bill’s explanatory notes lay out that, for many years, rabbinical courts have handled civil disputes by mutual consent of the parties, until it was determined that they lacked the authority to adjudicate such disputes.
The committee excluded from the scope of arbitration any criminal or administrative matters, as well as proceedings in which the state or a local authority was a party. Matters involving married couples or formerly married couples were also excluded.
However, the bill does permit arbitration in disputes concerning child custody.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) praised the bill to the panel, claiming it was “a liberal, egalitarian law that allows people, out of completely free choice, to seek adjudication in a rabbinical court.”
“Show some respect for a tradition of thousands of years, a legal system with values and morality,” he added.
MK Yoav Segalovitz (Yesh Atid) sharply criticized Smotrich and the bill.
“The finance minister came here only to make his political round. The law is bad. Rabbinical courts do not operate in an egalitarian manner toward women, and regarding what you call ‘consent,’ there have been and still are major disputes,” he told the panel.
Head of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality of Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid), spoke on the risk to women the bill poses during an earlier committee meeting on the bill on Monday. She said it was “a dangerous legislation.”
“Rabbinical courts are not egalitarian because, first of all, Jewish law (halacha) is often not egalitarian,” she said.
“It cannot be that our judicial system is replaced by a system based on halachic law. That is not what should exist in a democratic country, and we are moving in that direction.”
“I believe there is an enormous danger here to the future of the State of Israel, particularly to women,” she told the panel.
“Another important issue to consider is that rabbinical judges are not required to be trained in civil law. Even if they are required to act according to state law, many of the people sitting in these roles have not undergone training in civil law. They are not lawyers and are not required to receive such training,” she said.
Other opposition MKs have spoken out against the bill. Yisrael Beytenu chairperson Avigdor Liberman said on Tuesday that it was “another step toward turning Israel into a halachic state under ultra-Orthodox coercion, and toward creating a state within a state, with a separate legal system.”
The entrance to the Rabbinical Court in Tel Aviv was blocked off with cautionary tape on Monday morning to protest the bill. The demonstration was carried out by the organization Women Building an Alternative.
The Israel Women’s Network has stated that it strongly opposes the bill and warned that it could cause severe harm to women’s rights in the country.
“Make no mistake, haredi women will pay the heaviest price, as they will face pressure to agree to arbitration in a religious court that is not bound by principles of gender equality,” the organization said when the bill passed its first reading.
