Israel’ Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has been conducting discussions with members of his staff and other judicial experts regarding the state’s response to a petition by a Toeiva couple seeking recognition towards adopting a child.

According to Maariv News report, during the discussion differences of opinion arose between the legal advisers of the Ministry of the Interior and Mandelblit. According to the Interior Ministry, the position of Interior Minister Aryeh Deri should be adhered to, according to which only father and mother will be registered in the birth certificate of adopted children. Whereas with same-gender couples, who will not be recognized as adoptive parents, but only one of the spouses.

According to this position, if the state wishes to change the decision and allow the registration of Toeiva couples in the birth certificate of the adopted child, it must amend the law explicitly stating that the right to adopt is reserved for a father and mother.

According to those who hold this view, although the Adoption Law violates the principle of equality of the Basic Law: Human Dignity & Liberty, since it was legislated prior to enactment of the Basic Law, it was protected under the provisions of the law and not subject to the Basic Law. The Deputy Attorney General, Raz Nizri, and the director of the civil department in the State Attorney’s Office, Yisrael Blum, also joined this position.

The position of the Ministry of Social Affairs on the other hand is that this is discrimination that could harm the good of the minor by not having all the documents that represent the new family unit. In this position, State Attorney Shai Nitzan, the director of the High Court of Justice Department, Aner Helman, and the deputy attorney general Dina Zilber supported it.

Mandelit decided to adopt in principle the position of the Ministry of Social Affairs, and in his opinion, it is impossible to protect the position of the Minister of the Interior because it is discrimination based on sexual orientation and harming the best interests of the child. The Legal Advisor believes that although the Adoption Law is not subject to the Basic Law, Human Dignity & Liberty, the interpretation of the Adoption Law is indeed subject to the law, so Mandelblit explains that although the law states “father and mother” this is just an example and the law is to be interpreted to mean “father and father” or “mother and mother” as well.

Only about a year ago in the High Court of Justice and the State Attorney’s Office represented Interior Minister Deri’s position in the petition, claiming that the law expressly allows only a father and a mother to register to adopt a child.

In this petition, the judges were required to force the Ministry of the Interior to determine that in the case of a parent who marries a same-gender spouse, after the death or divorce of the other parent, the Ministry of the Interior will recognize the spouse as the adoptive parent of the child. Mandelblit accepted the position of the Minister of the Interior and defended the explicit language of the law in the High Court of Justice. As a result, a major public outcry ensued, and the AG was at the center of intense criticism from supporters of the toeiva community.

In the recent internal discussion, Mandelblit instructed the High Court of Justice unit to prepare positions that represent either side, and lawyers who were present at the tense meeting found it difficult to understand the difference between the two cases and argued that this was an artificial and would not stand the test of the High Court, and in essence, is the result of coving into public pressure from the toeiva community.

A government source was quoted as saying in Maariv that “the attorney general cannot impose his opinion on the government when there is more than one legitimate interpretation. If ministers Deri and Katz disagree, the decision must be decided by the government.”

High Court justices will hear the case in three weeks and the state must submit its position by Wednesday, 28 Tammuz. If there are no last minute changes, it will mark the first time the state R”L will recognize the legitimacy of toeiva couple for the purpose of adoption.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)