In a legal achievement for the Rackman Center, together with the organization, ‘Yad La’Isha’, the High Court of Justice confirmed that matters of gett refusal and agunot between a Jewish couple who are non-Israeli citizens falls within the jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts of Israel (Amendment 4b1).
On May 7, 2023, the High Court rejected an appeal by a Jewish man, who is a citizen and resident of England and who is refusing to grant his wife a gett, on the authority of the rabbinical courts in Israel to hear his case. The decision notes that the amendment to the Rabbinical Courts Law – 2018 (Sec. 4b1) grants the courts international jurisdiction to discuss cases regarding a couple that has no ties to Israel when the husband refuses to grant the get (the law gives the unusually jurisdiction to the rabbinical court only for the cases the husband refuses due to the asymmetric consequences for the women in these cases) . It is further stated that, “The jurisdiction of the Rabbinical Court in Israel to decide on matters of divorce of a Jewish couple married according to Halacha must be interpreted broadly, and to recognize the Court’s authority when the woman cannot obtain an effective and appropriate remedy in the religious court of another country”.
The woman was represented by attorney Shay Zilberberg, from the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women, and attorney Dina Reichik from the organization, ‘Yad La’Isha’.
