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High Court justices Eliyakim Rubinstein and Edmond Levy. (Archives)
Last update - 08:05 10/12/2007
Religious party leader: Same-sex families undermine Judaism
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Interior Ministry, Israel 

Judaism does not recognize same-sex parents and therefore, the High Court decision to recognize their adoptions undermines the foundations of a Jewish state, National Religious Party Chairman Zevulun Orlev said on Sunday.

"There is no choice but to fix the legislation to determine that a family comprises a man and a woman," Orlev said.

The panel reopened Sunday the debate on a lesbian woman's right to adopt her partner's son, in response to the state's petition against a previous court ruling in 2000.
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Nicole and Ruthie Brenner-Kadish formalized the adoption in California, and then petitioned the High Court, asking it to instruct the state to recognize the adoption.

As opposed to Orlev, Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On said that "the decision is one more step toward the annulment of the institutionalized discrimination of same-sex couples. It's about time the state recognize these couple as they do adoptions completed by couples that are not of the same sex."

In its 2000 ruling, a three-justice panel sided with the Brenner-Kadish couple, and ordered the Population Registry to list both of them as the child's mothers. An Interior Ministry official refused, however, saying that "biologically speaking the existence of two parents of the same gender is impossible."

In response, the court ruled at the time that "the Interior Ministry position that registering [the child] would be clearly wrong is nothing more than different packaging for the position against recognition of same-sex adoptions, a position that cannot guide the registry official."

A short time after the ruling, the state requested an additional hearing on the matter, with an expanded judicial panel, arguing that adoptions by same-sex couples should not be recognized due to the fact that they create a same-sex family - an institution that has no legal standing in Israel.

The nine-justice panel does not include the court's only two religious justices, Eliyakim Rubinstein and Edmond Levy. According to a court official, Rubinstein could not preside over the case due to the fact that he served as attorney general when the original petition was filed, while Levy had asked to be removed from the deliberation due to his large case load.

Dan Yakir, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel attorney representing the couple, had urged the court to reject the state's request for an additional hearing due to the harm it would cause the Brenner-Kadish family. The child in question, Matan, is already 11 years old, and the couple has two other children - both of whom are listed as having only one of the women as their mother.

Yakir added that an additional hearing on the matter is unnecessary, given that the court also recognized a similar adoption by a lesbian couple in a 2005 ruling.

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      1.   We are family 12:57  |  SJ 09/12/07
      2.   Blatant discrimination puts childs well being at risk 13:13  |  TW 09/12/07
      3.   A foolish petition 14:53  |  Dani Reiss 09/12/07
      4.   Complicated matter 15:47  |  Yossi 09/12/07
      5.   re:complicated matter 17:38  |  Avi 09/12/07
      6.   ISRAEL: SODOM AND GOMORRHA 21:02  |  RICHIE 09/12/07
      7.   Really? 21:17  |  Bertram 09/12/07
      8.   Certain parts of Judaism should be undermined... 21:18  |  dav zee 09/12/07
      9.   Easy way for the government to destroy the state 21:37  |  Dave 09/12/07
      10.   `Rice, Livni involved in love affair` 21:40  |  jc 09/12/07
      11.   same sex marriage.A NO NO. 21:41  |  albert 09/12/07
      12.   Israel is Jewish Demo.not a gay Democracy(Hi-Court) 22:21  |  sam 09/12/07
      13.   Yossi - it`s really not that complicated 22:38  |  Danny 09/12/07
      14.   # 5 and 13 Complicated matter 23:20  |  Yossi 09/12/07
      15.   Intolerance and narrow mindedness 23:22  |  Lilliane 09/12/07
      16.   #5 Incest can be a problem 23:28  |  Joe 09/12/07
      17.   TO # 6 00:01  |  The Teacher/Instruct 10/12/07
      18.   # 12 sam 00:43  |  Axel 10/12/07
      19.   Civil partnership 01:51  |  Joseph 10/12/07
      20.   Canada 02:10  |  Brenda 10/12/07
      21.   Just to clarify 03:12  |  Bertram 10/12/07
      22.   Ask the Hon. F. Deak! 04:23  |  deak of deak 10/12/07
      23.   You Got The Names Wrong 04:42  |  Michael 10/12/07
      24.   FAMILY= 1 MAN & 1 WOMAN + KIDS. 08:30  |  Avraham 10/12/07
      25.   Separate religion from the state! 08:49  |  Boris 10/12/07
      26.   #10, jc 09:14  |  Yohan Dahal 10/12/07
      27.   Execution of the unnaturals 10:39  |  Yohan Dahal 10/12/07
      28.   Religion is always at its most stupid over sex. 11:14  |  Michael 10/12/07
      29.   The Crux of the Matter 11:15  |  Yaakov Sullivan 10/12/07
      30.   reply # 11 and be like you 11:18  |  SJ 10/12/07
      31.   reply # 24: Family + 2 men + 2 daughters 11:24  |  SJ 10/12/07
      32.   Rights vs Obligations 12:07  |  Yaakov Sullivan 10/12/07
      33.   #6: Read ur Bible properly, Richie 12:31  |  Daniel 10/12/07
      34.   The Crux of the Matter ........ IS 12:44  |  Ari ben Yisrael 10/12/07
      35.   the very problem 12:46  |  Olli 10/12/07
      36.   To #31 13:18  |  Yoni 10/12/07
      37.   Olli, the reasons do not need to be stated #35 13:50  |  Yaakov Sullivan 10/12/07
      38.   This Topic Seems to Have Been Made Unreachable 14:56  |  Yaakov Sullivan 10/12/07
      39.   It should be clear to the religious Jews, and I am one of them, 15:54  |  Yedidya Rabinowitz 10/12/07
      40.   WHY, WHY? 16:10  |  indrajaya 10/12/07
      41.   Reply to #39 at last some sense 16:12  |  SJ 10/12/07
      42.   to yakoov Sullivan 16:28  |  Olli 10/12/07
      43.   Not recognised as a union, no benefits Indrajaya #40 16:30  |  Yaakov Sullivan 10/12/07
      44.   Not true - homophobia undermines Judaism 16:34  |  Stephen Murray 10/12/07
      45.   I agree! zion should have all same sex marriages 16:54  |  queer paradise 10/12/07
      46.   Olli, I agree with your position 16:58  |  Yaakov Sullivan 10/12/07
      47.   homophobia 17:11  |  rm 10/12/07
      48.   # 43, YAAKOV SULLIVAN 17:29  |  indrajaya 10/12/07
      49.   indrajaya as Pro-Gay activist? Poor sodding gays... 18:01  |  Ofer Maimon 10/12/07
      50.   Same-Sex Marriage is a Sham 18:07  |  MIKE 10/12/07
      51.   ORLEV IS CORRECT 18:29  |  Baruch 10/12/07
      52.   I can also buy pork in Israel 18:41  |  Israeli guy 10/12/07
      53.   # 41 I`m a little bit irritated 19:13  |  Kris 10/12/07
      54.   Moot point the way Israeli Left is pushing the country 19:15  |  Terry 10/12/07
      55.   A jeiwsh state or an Israeli state? 19:47  |  David 10/12/07
      56.   YAAKOV SULLIVAN 20:02  |  Indrajaya 10/12/07
      57.   Same-sex families 05:44  |  Shlomo 11/12/07
      58.   Irreligious Liberalist Western Idiocracies Have No Future 09:09  |  Efox 11/12/07
      59.   re: dav zee 09:13  |  Efox 11/12/07
      60.   re: rm 09:18  |  Efox 11/12/07
      61.   same sex couple 10:34  |  Daniel 17/12/07
      62.   sodoma & camorra 17:42  |  sarita 29/12/07
      63.   Sodoma & Gabbana 19:38  |  J 29/12/07
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