Following an extended opposition filibuster, a government-backed law significantly expanding the authority of the state’s rabbinic and Sharia court systems was passed into law by the Knesset in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with 65 lawmakers voting in favor and 41 against.

The bill, sponsored by the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and Shas parties, gives the religious tribunals the power to arbitrate civil disputes which are currently the purview of the secular court system. Rabbinical courts were allowed to act as arbitrators in financial disputes until 2006, when a court decision determined that they had no standing to do so.

Rabbinical courts are part of Israel’s judiciary, currently handling legal matters such as divorce, wills and inheritances, and conversions. The system comprises 12 nationwide regional courts, with the Great Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem serving as the highest appellate authority. The president of the Great Rabbinical Court, a role held by one of Israel’s chief rabbis, oversees the rabbinical court system. Currently, the position is held by Sephardi Chief Rabbi David Yosef.

The law, which initially was set to allow the courts to rule on child custody issues, was amended during the legislative process so that it does not apply to married or formerly married couples. It also does not apply to labor law cases unless the matter was freely initiated by an employee rather than an employer.

The legislation stipulates that religious courts would only be allowed to rule on such issues with the consent of both parties and that the rulings reached through rabbinic arbitration cannot violate the Women’s Equal Rights Law or other civil rights statues.

However, critics have asserted that such protections are not enough, given the pressures litigants in religiously conservative communities are likely to face, and that the bill would create a power imbalance that’s harmful to weaker segments of society, with women’s rights likely to be affected.

During Monday evening’s debate, Yesh Atid MK Merav Cohen argued that the male-dominated courts could not provide women, who cannot serve as rabbinic judges, with equal treatment.

“There are no female........

© The Times of Israel