Jewish Home-Yesh Atid deal would allow same-sex marriage

The two main partners of Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government, Yesh Atid and the Jewish Home, came close to signing a deal that would formulate a series of joint legislative efforts between the two parties, Maariv reported on Wednesday. One of the articles in the shelved plan called for civil unions between same-sex couples.

The drafted agreement called for the state to approve limited civil unions including for gay couples. Such a clear statement of intent supporting the idea coming from Jewish Home, the national religious party, which heads the Religious Affairs Ministry, is a rare one.

Another topic addressed on the draft was the high cost of housing in Israel. According to the never-signed agreement, Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) would work closely with Lapid, who heads the ministerial committee in charge of solving the much-discussed problem.

Sources from both parties told Maariv the deal was never signed because Lapid and Naftali Bennett realized that one couldn’t expect a coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-Beytenu list to function if parties within the coalition had separate internal agreements.

While the official deal was never formally inked, party representatives agreed they would cooperate on a number of important issues, including increasing the Knesset majority needed for a vote of no-confidence, raising the minimum threshold for winning seats in the Knesset and abolishing ministers without portfolio.