22% of requests this years to the Rabbinical courts were rejected. 5000 couples a year are questioned.
Member of Knesset Dr. Aliza Lavie, Chair of the Lobby on Religion and State, held a discussion on the recognition and approval of conversions performed in Israel and the Diaspora. In attendance were representatives from the non-governmental organizations Etim and the Israel Democracy Institute, and also from the Reform Movement in Israel. Members of Knesset Ksneia Svetlova (Zionist Camp), Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid), and Yehuda Joshua Glick (Likud) also provided comments during the discussion. Etim presented statistics showing that the number of couples being investigated for their Jewishness each year is rising, and that for every 40,000 couples, 5,000 are investigated. The discussion then turned to the status of military conversions and the Interior Ministry’s prerogative to recognize only State conversions. MK Lavie affirmed her commitment to ensure that Israel remains a home for all Jews and, seeing the choice to convert as a human right, she would like to see more MKs from all sectors of Israeli society working on this issue.
