Interior Minister Aryeh Deri submitted a Knesset bill which, if passed, will invalidate all conversions conducted in Israel except those performed by the Israeli Rabbinate. The bill’s purpose is to circumvent a 2016 Supreme Court ruling which demanded state recognition of conversions conducted by private Orthodox rabbinical courts in Israel for the purpose of Israel’s Law of Return. Following the court ruling, Conservative and Reform groups petitioned that it should also apply to their conversions and were scheduled for a hearing this week.
The 2016 court ruling was in response to an appeal of the Itim conversion advocacy organization, which is actively converting minors from the former Soviet Union with their parents’ consent. Opponents of the Supreme Court ruling argue that conversion should require state authorization just as people need state authorization for car licenses and marriage.
{Matzav.com Israel News}
