The Knesset Committee Honors International Agunah Day

The Jerusalem Post discusses the Knesset Committee’s discussing the issue of  Jewish women who are not granted a divorce by their husbands which enables them to remarry. It is International Aguna Day on the day of the Fast of Easter and the controversy is considered a “world wide Jewish problem.” Aida Touma-Silman argues that Israel needs civil marriage in order to free women because they should be not subject to their husband’s decision of being forcefully married. Women are often threatened by their husbands, in order for the husband to give their wife a divorce he must obtain all joint assets and eliminate all child support. Zionist Union members Revital Swid and Cohen Paran wonder when rabbinical courts will make the initiative to stop the agunot issue and when will they take disciplinary actions toward the husbands who do not want to provide gets. Rabbinical courts did promise that by Passover they will begin visiting men who were sent to prison for not providing a get for their spouse. Now in modern times, there are pre-nuptial agreements which are becoming very popular. It is all in hope that it will reduce the aguna problem in about 10 years as according to Rabbi Jeremy Stern. 

In the Jerusalem Post the article failed to mention the purpose of holding a meeting on International Aguna Day. The article said that it held the meeting in honor of the day but lacked to mention what they hoped to achieve. In the Jerusalem Post, Yael Cohen-Paran suggests rabbis to use annulment in cases which the husband refuses to divorce their wife. In My Jewish Learning they argue the complexities that arise from laws governing annulment which the rabbinical court does not want to partake in. The Jewish Press continued on to state that victims are not only the wives involved but can effect their family members, community and even the Rabbi trying to resolve the problem. The author failed to make the connection to why the Knesset Committee associates International Aguna Day to the fast of Esther. At the end of the Jerusalem Post the author points out that Rabbi Jeremy Stern predicts that with the popularity of halachic prenuptial agreements there will be a decrease of an aguna problem within Orthodox Jews in the US. In the Jewish Press it mentioned an effective “Post-nuptial Signing Party” for the prevention of get - refusals at Efrat. The Jewish press argues that in both the US and Israel the best way to prevent being an aguna is signing a halachic prenuptial agreement.

The writer for the Jerusalem Post was in favor of the agunot getting divorces by quoting members of the meeting that have been personally effected. The author did not provide any statistics to prove the amount of women undergoing this problem in Israel. The quotes the author used were always suggesting the committee with solutions to end the problem either through annulments, civil marriage or publicity shame. When he would mention the rabbinical court he would use negative comments provided by the committee. He quotes an anonymous aguna that referred the feeling of being in front of the rabbinical court as humiliating. He writes her account of being an aguna and the blame she received from the rabbinical court making them seem malicious. He also ends the article with giving an example of the progression of the rabbinical court administrator visiting the husbands placed in prison for not providing a get which does not seem as productive. 

First Foster Care Legislation in Israel

In Israel the Knesset just approved their first foster care law in memory of the tragic murder of Dafna Meir. The mother of six children was murdered at the footstep of her door at the Otniel settlement by a terrorist attacker. She had four biological children and two foster children with her husband Nathan Meir. Foster care used to be an issue addressed  directly to the Welfare and Social Services Ministry. Foster parents will now have the right to have absolute control of their foster child/ren while under their custody. The issues that biological parents formally used to decide like haircuts, doctor visits, or field trips will now be in the hands of the foster parents.The establishment of a body that will issue licenses to foster parents will also address children complaints.  Foster children are meant to live with their foster parents temporarily then placed back with their biological parents.Nathan was present for the passing of the bill with other supportive foster families to show appreciation. The new law is meant to make the process more pleasant for future foster parents to apply which foster children will benefit from. The legislation will create equality for all children in creating a healthy environment undergoing these circumstances. 

The Times of Israel had misconstructed statements on Dafna’s attack and it provided an unclear description of the legislation being passed on foster care. In the Times of Israel writer Renee Ghert-zand addressed Dafna Meir’s attacker as a terrorist but on Ynetnews claim that her attacker was incited by Palestinian TV. The attacker is a Palestinian teenage boy that was roused up by the media’s portrayal of Israel as a nation that kills young Palestinians. The attack was not premeditated but impulsive. The reporter fails in explaining the influence of media contributing in spreading discriminatory messages to the audience and focused all the blame on the teenage boy. The author was very vague on the status of the biological parents during the process of this new legislation and how it will improve the status between the biological parent and child. Harretz claims that parental rehabilitation will cost approximately 200 million shekels a year which is why it was excluded in the new law. In The Times of Israel it did not comment on the economic benefits for the foster parents. The Jerusalem Post stated that the foster parents will be eligible for full maternity leave benefits in accordance to the age of the child. 

The author is sympathetic to Dafna Meir’s attack and is supportive of the new mandate. Renee Ghert-zand gave an excerpt of an interview he did with Meir’s husband who supported for the bill to pass. The article focused a suitable amount of information on Dafna’s background and did not go into full details to explain the new proposal. The Times of Israel did not give statistics about the issue on most foster children currently living in institutions or group homes. The law is meant to facilitate foster parents’ process to remove children from living in institutions into homes. The issue had to be addressed because in Israel there have been many children living in group homes and there was no real institution to rely on but the Welfare Ministry that had homes for the displaced children. The Times of Israel was not able to provide that information I had to do further research in all the articles I utilized to construct this conclusion. Haarezt argues that the new law has many flaws regarding foster care being temporary and it does not benefit the biological parent. Renee Ghert-zand was giving the reader an article on the advancements of Israel in creating a law that will diminish the amount of foster children placed in institutions and praise the memory of Dafna Mei.