Israeli Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Online Civil Marriages

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday in favor of online civil marriages performed through the American state of Utah. The decision means that couples who cannot marry through Israel’s state-recognized religious authorities or do not wish to do so can now legally get married without leaving the country.

In Israel, state-sanctioned weddings are all governed by state-recognized religious authorities. The Chief Rabbinate is responsible for Jewish weddings, Muslim weddings are overseen by the Sharia courts, Christian marriage ceremonies are conducted by the religious courts of the various Christian denominations, and Druze weddings are performed by the Druze spiritual leadership.

There is no civil marriage mechanism due to the objections of religious political parties, but Israel recognizes civil unions formed abroad. The ruling marks a significant win for advocates of civil marriage who have campaigned for it for decades, but it will likely be opposed by the coalition’s religious parties.

The court’s decision follows a legal battle that began in December 2020, when three couples had their online Utah civil marriages registered by the Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority. However, then-Interior Minister Aryeh Deri ordered a halt to such registrations. In June 2021, the ministry published a legal opinion arguing that since the couples were located in Israel at the time of their marriages, Israeli law applied to them and their marriages were therefore invalid.

The Supreme Court overturned this opinion, ruling that the clerks of the Population and Immigration Authority were not legally authorized to challenge the validity of the Utah marriages and refuse to register them. The ruling means that civil marriage is now available to all citizens in Israel without having to leave the country, a significant win for advocates of civil marriage who have been fighting for such a right for decades.