Divorce granted to gay couple for first time in Israeli history

 Posted on December 18, 2012 in Family Law

A court judge rejected the states arguments that only rabbinical courts have the authority to dissolve marriages, he instructed the Interior Ministry to register the former lovers as divorced.

An Israeli court granted the divorce of a gay couple for the first time in the country’s history.

Recently, the Ramat Gan Family Court approved the request of Uzi Even, a chemistry professor at Tel Aviv University, and Amit Kama, who teaches communications at Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, to order the Interior Ministry to register the couple as divorced.

Kama said, “From my point of view, even if the state appeals and we have to keep doing down this road, the verdict shows the beginning of the undermining of the rabbinate.”

He added that he is thrilled that he and Even have made a breakthrough. This decision will not only affect other same ex couples, but also straight couples who were married in a civil ceremony abroad. This is because Israel does not recognize civil marriages that have been performed inside the country, but these couples want the state to register them as divorced.

The judge for this case, Judge Yehezkel Eliyue, shared that he based his decision on the High Court of Justice’s instruction to the state to register the marriage of five same sex couples that had tied the knot in Canada.

The counrt rules that, “Once the High Court of Justice ordered the registration of the marriage, the possibility cannot be considered that petitioners who have agreed to end their marriage should remain tied to each other.” The court claimed that keeping these couples tied together through marriage is against the rights and liberties of the individual, “it goes against Basic Laws and the basic values of justice and equality.” More simply, the court claimed that denying these couples a registered divorce is against the law.

Eliyue said that in the Even-Kama case, it was only natural for the legal court to take authority and dissolve the marriage.

He added that in those particular circumstances, the rabbinic court lacked the authority to hear the petition.

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