A reported compromise being hammered out in the Knesset would open Israel up to civil marriages on its own soil, kind of.
According to the proposal by Sharren Haskel (New Hope), and agreed to by Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana (Yamina), Israelis who want a civil marriage would be able to do so from foreign embassies and other diplomatic missions in Israel, Channel 12 news reports. The missions are in Israel, but technically belong to the country that dispatched the mission.
Gay couples take part in a mass same-sex wedding in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 4, 2019, to demand the right to same-sex marriage ahead of the country’s Gay Pride week. (AP /Oded Balilty)
Currently, Israel does not have civil marriage, though it recognizes such marriages performed abroad. Because only religiously-administered marriages are allowed, Jews wishing to marry non-Jews, or those wishing to marry same-sex partners, must travel to another country — usually Cyprus — to do so.
The system, which also forces Jews whose conversions are not recognized by the rabbinate to go abroad, has long been criticized as a form of discrimination that creates endless headaches and bureaucracy for those seeking to unite in marriage.
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