As you may or may not know, a “Jewish” divorce can only be performed through a Rabbinic court. The State of Israel has given a lot of power to the Rabbinic courts including the right to severely punish those who refuse to grant a “get” (permission by one spouse to the other for a divorce). After the Rabbinic Court has decided that one of the parties must grant a get, the rabbinic judges have the power to impose severe punishments and fines as a way to convince a spouse to relinquish their claim on their spouse’s marital status.
In January 2014, the Rabbinic Court in Tel Aviv ruled that the husband must give his wife a get. This case concerns a stubborn husband who has not appeared at all the hearings he was obligated to appear and when he did appear he screamed and lied to the judges without hesitation or reservation.
In total, there were more than 20 hearings to convince the husband to give a get but he kept refusing. The judges issued a ban on him leaving the country, cancelled his driver’s license, cancelled his passport, froze his bank accounts and still he kept refusing their order. A year after the court’s decision, the judges, after trying every other way, issued an arrest order for seven days against the husband. However, the police did not execute the order and the husband remained free and still refused to give a get so the wife was still considered “Haggunah” – a woman who was refused a get, which leaves her unable to remarry or even start a new relationship.
After a second round of hearings in 2015, the husband still kept refusing and this time he said he would agree if the alimony for three children would be lowered by the court. At this point the judges decided to impose a 5,000 NIS fine and order ten days in jail. This time, in their court decision, the judges said that the police should take seriously the court’s decision and arrest him.
A few weeks ago after another hearing, it was discovered the police had done nothing even after a third arrest warrant was issued for 21 days. As a result, the judges issued a fourth order now for 30 days.
In addition, as a dramatic act out of frustration, they sent a copy of the decisions to both the Attorney General and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court hoping that this would get the police to do what they were commanded to do and that the husband would be put behind bars.
A personal note:
There is a song by a Brazilian composer written while Brazil was under a dictatorship with a lyric “look there is police coming, call a thief” implying the police in this kind of situation do more harm than a potential threat or real distress where assistance is even ordered by judges and not just requested by a citizen in need.
This is not the normal state of affairs for Israeli police, who are often seen as sensitive to the rights of all Israel’s citizens. I hope the police step up to help this woman who has been waiting patiently to start the next chapter of her life out from under the shadow of husband who by now should be by the court’s ruling her ex-husband…
