Status of Consular Marriages To Be Heard By Israeli High Court

As several prior postings have discussed (1, 2, 3), in Israel the question of whether the government will recognize civil marriage, or leave a monopoly in the hands of religious authorities, continues to be an important issue. Today's Jerusalem Post reports on a new piece of the issue-- the question of whether the government will recognize "consular marriages". International agreements to which Israel is a party allow couples to be married by the consul of a foreign country if at least one member of the couple is a citizen of that country. However, in 1995, Israel's Foreign Ministry issued an internal memorandum to foreign embassies instructing them to stop performing such marriages. Petitions were filed in the High Court of Justice challenging the memo, but successive governments have managed to delay a hearing for years. Now, a hearing is scheduled for later this summer on whether the Interior Ministry must recognize consular marriages. Israel's religious parties oppose recognition, even if the marriage does not include Jewish partners, fearing that this will eventually lead to mixed marriages in Israel for Jews.