Sharp criticism was directed in the Knesset plenum last week
against Minister of the Interior Natan Sharansky, in the wake
of his decision to enable foreign consulates in Israel to
register couples for civil marriages. Many Knesset members --
including non-religious ones -- sharply criticized his
decision and demanded that it be rescinded. The UTJ
representatives sharply condemned the decision and its
implications, and told Sharansky that he had failed to weigh
the matter sufficiently and, as a result, the decision should
be canceled immediately.
In a response to a series of proposals on the agenda
regarding his decision, Sharansky said: "The decision to
enable foreign consulates to register marriages depends upon
three conditions: 1) One of the parties to the marriage must
be non-Jewish; 2) One of them must be a citizen of the
country in whose consulate the marriage is being registered;
3) That country must have laws which enable the registration
of marriages in its consulates. It is said that the main
consulates involved are those of Russia, Brazil, Greece and
Cypress. The Russian consulate was said at one time to have
earned significant fees from marriages.
Sharansky claimed that the High Court had decided in 1993 to
enable foreign consulates to register marriages in a case
involving a marriage in the Brazilian consulate, and had
obligated the Ministry of the Interior to record and
recognize these marriages. Since then, every civil marriage
taking place in foreign consulates in Israel is recognized by
the Ministry of the Interior. However, a year later, during
the period of the Labor-Meretz Government, the Ministry asked
foreign consulates not to conduct marriage registrations.
After much misgivings, and after an additional year had
passed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the consulates
not to register marriages. The consulates generally complied
with this request.
Sharansky claimed that today, many couples who can not be
married in Israel travel abroad to be married and that he
believes that soon the High Court will obligate the State to
subsidize their air fares.
Rabbonim and communal leaders reacted sharply to Sharansky's
remarks, saying that instead of trying to prevent
intermarriages, Minister Sharansky, who defines himself as a
traditional Jew, is helping such couples marry. "As long as
the High Court has yet to reach a decision on this issue, it
is forbidden for the Minster of the Interior to try to find
solutions which will result in intermarriage," they said.
They then added that one is forbidden to remain silent about
this grave decision. "He has made a one-sided decision
without consulting the chareidi representatives in the
Knesset nor bringing it to a vote in the Knesset or its
committees. The recent manner in which the Minister of the
Interior has been making decisions raises concern about
whether it is possible to negotiate with him," they said.
Last week, Rabbi Gafni said that UTJ would have to weigh its
steps in the wake of Sharansky's extremist course of action
on this issue.
At a stormy meeting held last week in the Religious Lobby of
the Knesset attended by Minster Sharansky, all of the
religious representatives asked him to retract his decision.
At the meeting, the chairman of the Lobby, Rabbi Shmuel
Halpert, asked the Minister of the Interior to cancel his
letter to the Attorney General in which he seeks to permit
consular marriage registration between Israeli citizens and
non-Jewish foreigners. "There is no doubt that such a step
will lead to civil marriage and intermarriage; to the
undermining of the status quo and a rift in the Jewish
Nation," he stressed.
Minister Sharansky said that he is trying to change the Law
of Return in particular the clauses dealing with the
grandchildren of Jews who are not themselves Jewish. Efforts
are being made, he said, to prevent the forging of affidavits
attesting to original Jewish identity by arranging for the
opening of Russian government census records, facilitating
verification of these affidavits, and coordinating between
the liaison offices, the Ministry of the Interior and the
Israeli Police.
Religious Affairs Minister Yitzchok Cohen said: "We hope that
the Minister of the Interior is acting in good faith. But we
must remind him that the registration of consular marriages
is illegal." Rabbi Moshe Gafni informed Sharansky of the
seriousness of the matter, and noted that it undermines the
delicate fabric of the relationships between the religious
and the secular on the issue of matrimony.
Nissim Zeev raised practical proposals on the issue. Rabbi
Yaakov Litzman asked why contracts signed in consulates are
not recognized in the area of income tax law, while in
respect to marriage laws consulates are recognized as foreign
territory.
MK Zevulun Orlev exhorted the Minister for not having
consulted the religious delegates in the Knesset prior to
making his decision. Sharansky replied that the discussions
in the Religious Lobby had sharpened and deepened his
understanding of the topic of the Law of Return and the Law
of Marriage Registration. He promised not to undermine the
status quo, and proposed that the Religious Lobby try to find
a solution to the issues on the agenda of the High Court
concerning marriage and the Law of Return.
Yigal Yehudi, head of Shai, an organization for the
preservation of the Jewish character of the country, said
that Sharansky is consistently realizing his aspirations to
increase non-Jewish immigration while deepening assimilation
and intermarriage. Yehudi says that the decisions of the
Ministry of the Interior underscore the importance of the
guidelines of maranan verabonon to maintain
genealogical records, and that we have no choice but to
urgently implement these guidelines urgently.
