Israel starts registering Utah ‘Zoom weddings,’ but fate of marriages still unclear
(Worthy News) – The Population and Immigration Authority last week began registering the marriages of hundreds of couples that married online through the US state of Utah, after initially refusing to do so despite an explicit order from the High Court of Justice.
Due to a 2020 rule change in Utah, weddings conducted using videoconferencing software like Skype or Zoom are considered legally valid, provided at least one person involved — participant or officiant — is physically located in the state. This gave Israelis who don’t want to, or can’t, marry through the Chief Rabbinate an opportunity to legally marry in Israel, using an officiant in Utah. Some 600 Israelis, mostly LGBT and interfaith couples who cannot legally wed in Israel, have gotten married this way in the past three years.
Israel’s Interior Ministry has fought against these marriages in court twice, claiming that they were in fact conducted inside Israel — and not in Utah — and were thus not legitimate, but lost both times. The State Attorney’s Office appealed the rulings to the High Court of Justice on similar grounds last month. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]
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