‘Absolute madness’ – Opposition criticizes passing of law expanding authority of rabbinical courts

The Knesset plenum approved the Religious Courts Jurisdiction (Arbitration) Bill in second and third readings overnight, allowing religious courts in Israel (both rabbinical and sharia) to act as arbitrators in limited civil matters. 

The bill was debated for hours, with discussions beginning Monday night. Lawmakers were forced to evacuate the chamber due to air raid sirens triggered by Iranian ballistic missile launches before ultimately voting 65-41 to approve the measure.

The bill was sponsored by ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni and former MK Yisrael Eichler, along with Shas MKs Ya’akov Asher and Yinon Azoulay, and would grant religious courts the authority to adjudicate certain civil disputes currently handled exclusively by government courts.

Currently, rabbinical courts may handle cases involving divorce, wills and inheritances, and conversions, provided all parties agree. The new law will allow those same courts to handle a broader range of civil cases if all parties agree. 

The new legislation confirms that religious courts may rule only on civil issues with the consent of both parties, and further stipulates that their rulings cannot violate existing civil rights statutes, such as the Women’s Equal Rights Law. 

The Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, which reviewed the bill before passing it on to the Knesset plenum for a vote, narrowed the bill to exclude criminal or administrative matters and proceedings in which the state or a municipal authority is a party. Cases involving married or formerly married couples are also excluded, except for child custody cases. 

In the lengthy debates ahead of the vote, opposition party lawmakers criticized both the bill and the coalition for pushing the legislation forward during wartime. 

Yesh Atid MK Meirav Cohen, head of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, argued that the male-dominated courts could not provide women with equal treatment. She noted that rabbinic law itself is not egalitarian and prohibits women from serving as rabbis or judges in religious affairs. 

“There are no female rabbinic court judges, there’s not even a [Hebrew] word for it,” Cohen stated. “A system that does not allow women to be partners cannot provide them with equality.” 

Israel Beitenu leader MK Avigdor Lieberman criticized the coalition for advancing the law during the current war with Iran. 

“Today, while millions of citizens are running to shelters several times a day, while residents of the north hear real sirens on average every 22 minutes, on this very day, the Knesset is set to debate the ‘most important’ issue for the State of Israel: expanding the powers of the rabbinical courts,” Lieberman said. 

“This is absolute madness and a moral bankruptcy. I don’t understand how the leaders of the coalition manage to fall asleep at night,” he added. 

Opposition leader and Yesh Atid party head Yair Lapid criticized the government and threatened to cut funding to Haredi interests in the next government. 

“The Haredim squeezed through legislation last night that grants rabbinical courts arbitration powers of a court of law,” Lapid said in a statement to his party. “There will be a price for this day.” 

“Remember this day in the next government, when we pass legislation that says, anyone who receives a draft order and doesn't show up at the enlistment and sorting base won't get a single shekel from the state,” he threatened. “No allowance, no daycare, no housing assistance, no aid for his yeshiva.” 

Lapid also promised to overturn the law in the next government, writing on social media, “The current government passed a law tonight allowing people to turn to rabbinical courts in civil matters. The next government will pass exactly the same law, only in the opposite direction – people will be able to turn to civil courts to get married and divorced.” 

This promise was echoed by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who wrote on social media, “As soon as the government is formed under my leadership, I will repeal the defamation law of the rabbinical courts. There will be no 'state within a state' here!” 

“While you were in the shelters, the government passed a law last night that not only tears the people apart in a time of war, but also severely damages individual rights,” he continued. 

However, Knesset Constitution Law and Justice Committee Chairman MK Simcha Rotman welcomed the bill's passage, calling it a liberal victory. 

“It is a great privilege for the Knesset that we are passing this law today,” Rothman said. “This is the correction of an injustice of many years. It's a simple and trivial proposal that should have been agreed upon by everyone, because there's nothing more liberal than that – letting two adults say that they want to discuss the issue in a dispute between them according to Torah law.”