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CIVIL MARRIAGE BILL EASILY BEATEN; SHINUI MINISTERS ABSTAIN
by Gideon Alon, correspondent
Ha'aretz, March 11, 2004
The Knesset plenum yesterday defeated two civil marriage bills, 58-28, proposed by opposition MKs Roman Bronfman (Meretz) and Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor) in a preliminary reading.
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid and other Shinui ministers abstained from the vote, but nine Shinui MKs voted for the bill. This secular party's promise to support civil marriage was a central plank in its platform.
The bills defeated yesterday stated that every person has the right to marry and build a family, and proposed that couples be allowed to choose between a religious and civil marriage.
Under present laws, couples who wish to be married in Israel must be wed in a religious ceremony, conducted by a clergyman recognized by the state. For Jewish couples, the ceremony must be conducted by a recognized Orthodox rabbi. Couples married in Israel by Reform and Conservative rabbis are not registered as having been legally married. Couples who wish to get married in a civil ceremony or by an unrecognized clergyman must travel abroad to do so.
A total of 58 MKs from the Likud, National Union, National Religious Party, Shas and United Torah Judaism voted against the bills, while 28 MKs from Labor, Meretz, Shinui and Arab parties voted in favor of the bill.
Bronfman and Pines-Paz lashed out at Shinui, whose members submitted two civil marriage bills in the former Knesset, accusing it of hypocrisy. Pines-Paz lambasted Lapid for employing "tyranny" against the members of his faction.
Lapid dismissed the criticism, noting that ministers are not allowed to vote against the coalition stand. Consequently the party's ministers abstained while the MKs voted for the bills.
"We taught the Labor Party a lesson," Lapid said after the vote. "Only eight Labor MKs supported the bill, compared to the nine of Shinui's."
Pines-Paz expressed anger at Labor MKs - including Shimon Peres, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Amram Mitzna, Haim Ramon and Avraham Shochat - who did not attend the vote, though they were in the Knesset building at the time. He accused them of "voting with their feet" so as not to upset MKs from religious parties.
Labor MK Yuli Tamir said "it's a disgrace that Labor did not stand as one to support the civil marriage option."
Meretz MK Yossi Sarid called the Labor heads "mice that are not fit to lead the opposition."
"The absence of Labor leaders during the vote is further proof that the party isn't even worthy of the opposition," Sarid said.
A similar bill proposal will only be able to be submitted to the Knesset for preliminary reading in six months.
Rabbi Ehud Bandel, President of the Masorti Movement in Israel, said yesterday that Labor's "true face has been exposed" after they refrained form supporting Paz-Pines' bill. Bandel commended Shinui's MKs for supporting the bill.
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