High Court petitioned to order Knesset vote on automatic property division

Shas keeps divorce reform from final reading

By DAN IZENBERG
Daila Itzik 224.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Daila Itzik 224.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
A coalition of social justice, women's and religious organizations petitioned the High Court of Justice on Friday, demanding that Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik put to vote in final reading a bill to divide the assets between a couple undergoing divorce before the divorce is granted. The private member's bill, submitted by Michael Melchior (Labor-Meimad), Zevulun Orlev (National Union-National Religious Party), and Othniel Schneller and Menahem Ben-Sasson (Kadima) is aimed at preventing either side in a divorce from blackmailing the other into conceding material rights in return for agreeing to a divorce. According to the petitioners, in the overwhelming majority of cases it is the husband who tries to extort concessions from the wife. According to Halacha, a religious court, which is the only court in Israel that can grant a divorce, cannot impose a divorce ruling on either side. The man, who grants the divorce, and the woman, who accepts it, must both agree to do their part in the ceremony. According to the bill, the assets of the couple will be automatically divided at a specific time in the divorce procedure. In most cases, it will be done one year after one of the sides has filed for divorce in court. In some cases, the division will take place at a given point in time after the couple has separated. In cases where there is domestic violence, the date of the division may be advanced. The bill's sponsors believe that once the material "potential" of the divorce is neutralized, the recalcitrant party in many cases will give in and grant the divorce, since he has nothing to gain from not doing so. The petition is aimed at Itzik and the Knesset. The petitioners charged that she violated the Knesset House Rules by failing to bring the bill to a vote in final reading last Monday, when the Knesset returned from its summer recess. On July 27, the last day of the summer session, the Knesset approved the bill in second reading by a majority of 48 to 16. According to the House Rules, the vote on final reading should have been held immediately afterward. However, Shas demanded that the vote be regarded as a vote of no confidence in the government. According to the House Rules, in such a case, the vote will be postponed until the following day. Since July 27 was the last day of the summer session, the vote was postponed and should have been held on the first day of the winter session, that is, Monday, October 27. But Itzik did not put it on the agenda. The petitioners told the court they wrote to the speaker on October 26, 27 and 28, the day before each plenum meeting last week, asking her to put the bill to a vote. They said she did not answer any of their letters. On the other hand, they added, Knesset legal adviser Nurit Elstein gave a legal opinion that Itzik was obliged to put the bill to a vote in the plenum. On the last day of the summer session, the chairman of the Shas Knesset faction, Ya'acov Margi, had threatened that if the Knesset passed the bill that day, his party would cause serious coalition problems. Last week, however, the threat no longer held immediate significance since the government had resigned and new elections were in the offing. Nevertheless, there is life after the 17th Knesset and the threat apparently still had potency. The petitioners asked the court to meet quickly on the matter since there are only four days left of plenary sessions before the Knesset adjourns, and if the bill is to be passed, it ought to be presented during these days.