JERUSALEM, March 19 (JTA) Israel’s High Court of Justice has overturned a rabbinical ruling barring a lesbian couple from meeting with one of the partners’ children.
The three-justice panel said the Haifa rabbinical court was not authorized to rule on the matter, regardless of the nature of the relationship between the petitioners.
The rabbinical court had issued its ruling at the request of the former husband of one of the women.
Attorney Ayelet Golan-Tabori, who represented the couple, hailed the ruling.
“Civil rights were again declared in Israel where a lesbian couple can live together and raise children, without the intervention of any legal body,” she told Israel Radio.
Meanwhile, a controversy is brewing over plans to hold an event in the Knesset on Tuesday commemorating the 25th anniversary of the association of gays and lesbians in Israel.
Over the weekend, vandals spray-painted anti-gay graffiti on the home of Labor Party Knesset member Yael Dayan, an organizer of the event, the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot reported.
“Until now, I have received telephone threats regarding homosexual issues, but this is the first time my private life has been targeted,” she was quoted as saying.
Religious lawmakers are also reportedly incensed over plans to hold the event at the Knesset.
Shas legislator Nissim Ze’ev condemned the attack on Dayan’s home.
But he protested the planned event and criticized Dayan for “provocative” acts.
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