Defense and justice minister Benny Gantz has decided to facilitate civil marriage for couples who are forced to marry outside the country's borders, Ynet has learned on Monday.
Due to the coronavirus crisis and the closure of the skies, many couples cannot leave the country to get married in a civil marriage abroad and then return to Israel and register as married.
Last week, Gantz held a meeting with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, among others. During the meeting, Ganz decided to lay down a memorandum of law that would allow the Justice Ministry to register those couples as married.
"The principle of equality is one of the foundations of democracy," Ganz said. "The current situation does not allow us to remain indifferent to the fact that when the sky was closed, many Israeli citizens were denied the basic right to marry."