The Israeli public's views on civil marriage and transport on Shabbat
Hiddush survey for International Human Rights Day
The right to freedom of movement: 71% support public transportation on Saturday. The right to family: 69% support civil marriage in Israel. Most of the Jewish public in Israel supports the operation of public transportation on Saturdays and the establishment of civil marriage in Israel. This is not just politics. It’s about violations of basic human rights.
09/12/2019 16:09
Tags: Hiddush polls · civil marriage · transport on Shabbat · International Human Rights Day
Tomorrow [Dec. 10th] will mark International Human Rights Day, which commemorates the UN's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10 1948. Two of the basic human rights in the declaration are the right to family & marriage and the right to freedom of movement. On the occasion of Human Rights Day, Hiddush - Freedom of Religion for Israel surveyed Israeli public opinion regarding these human rights, in the context of Israel’s social and political discourse today.
71% of Israel’s adult Jewish population supports permitting public transportation on Saturday in Israel; only 29% oppose it. 69% support legislation to institute civil marriage and divorce in Israel for couples who would prefer this route; only 31% oppose it. These are the key finding of a survey conducted by the Smith Polling Institute for Hiddush.
The survey demonstrates how mayors and municipal authorities, who recently launched public transportation services on Saturday, are faithfully representing the will of the public. Israel’s political leaders, on the other hands, repeatedly raise the “status quo” flag to help them buy the religious parties’ political support, betraying the public and their very own voters in the process.
According to the findings of the survey, it is evident that the right to freedom of movement on Saturdays and holidays is important to most of the Jewish public in Israel. Those who support it include 94% of secular Israelis, 82% of those who identify as ‘traditional, not so religious’, and 59% of those who identify as ‘traditional, close to religion’. Most of the Zionist Orthodox (73%) and the ultra-Orthodox (97%) oppose the operation of public transportation on the Sabbath. A huge majority of Blue & White voters [95%], Yisrael Beiteinu [96%], and a large majority of Likud voters [68%] support this cause.
The right to marriage is enshrined in Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [“Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family…”]. As the current survey demonstrates, most of the adult Jewish public in Israel supports this right, which hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens are denied. 69% of those who expressed an opinion support legislating the instituting of civil marriage and divorce in Israel for those couples who prefer it. This position is shared by 93% of secular Israelis, 79% of those who identify as ‘traditional, not so religious’, and 66% of those who identify as ‘traditional, close to religion’. Much like the issue of public transportation on the Sabbath, civil marriage and divorce enjoy the support of a huge majority of Blue & White voter [98%], Yisrael Beiteinu [96%], and even a large majority of Likud voters [64%].
On Human Rights Day, it's important to remember that these issues are not merely about politics; they are violations of the basic human rights respected throughout the entire Western democratic world. Unfortunately, these very core rights are trampled and flipped into political bargaining chips. The recent election campaigns brought many vote for the realization of the vision of Israel supported by the public. They have brought us closer to an Israel that upholds religious freedom and equality. A civil unity government is needed to finally realize these rights, and we hope that such can and will be formed.
According to Hiddush’s analysis, more than 700,000 Israeli citizens cannot marry in Israel at all because of the Chief Rabbinate's monopoly over marriages of Jews and the complete absence of civil marriage. Among these are some 400,000 immigrants from the former USSR who are not recognized as Jewish by the Chief Rabbinate, as well as those that it has ruled are disqualified from getting married for religious reasons, members of LGBTQ community, non-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox converts, and other populations that face additional religious restrictions on their marriage. Israel is the only Western democracy that does not allow its citizens freedom of marriage. The world map of marriage freedom created by Hiddush ranks Israel alongside extremist Islamic states in the context of marriage freedom and presents the current state of marriage freedom in all countries throughout the world.