The bill, called "historic" by Finance Minister Yair Lapid, is very unlikely to pass due to Bayit Yehudi's veto power.
Yesh Atid MKs Aliza Lavie and Ruth Calderon submitted a bill to make civil unions legal Tuesday, sparking a political uproar. The proposal’s chances of becoming law are slim, however, as the Bayit Yehudi party has veto power on all matters of religion and state.
The Yesh Atid bill would allow any two people – regardless of sexual orientation or religion – to fill out a form in a courthouse requesting that their civil union be recognized. A civil union is defined as “an agreement conducted according to this law to live together as a couple and have a family life and joint household.”
Two people in a civil union would fall under the same legal status as married people. The conditions for two people to have a civil union would be that they be 18 or older and not relatives, married to another person or already married to each other.
“This is a historic step in the civil revolution we’re leading, and it cannot fall because of small-minded politics or a war on credit,” Finance Minister Yair Lapid wrote on Facebook. Lapid added that the party’s goal is “to allow every Israeli citizen – Jewish or not, gay or straight – to receive recognition of his right to love from his country.”
Calderon also emphasized that the bill “is not fighting halachic marriage and does not enter the rabbinate’s territory,” and is “the appropriate law for a sane and enlightened Jewish state.”....