The bill will only apply to couples where neither person is considered Jewish in the eyes of religious authorities, or to couples where both partners do not belong to a recognised religion. Yossi Beilin, chief of the secular leftist Meretz party, said that "instead of finding a solution which will enable them to integrate into the Israeli society, we are creating a ghetto in which they will be able to marry.

"The new initiative is a trick which does not mean civil marriage, but deepens the isolation and discrimination of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not defined as Jews."

 

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