National

In July 2000, the gay age of consent in Israel was lowered from 18 to 16 [R1.1].

The change brings the gay age of consent in line with the age of consent for heterosexuals.

The amendment to the penal code also exempts consensual gay sex involving youths 14 and 15 and youths up to three years older.

National

As at November 2011, only heterosexual couples are authorized to undergo the surrogacy procedure and the Health Ministry committee was yet to recommend authorizing same-sex couple surrogacy following a petition to the High Court of Justice 18 months ago [R1.2].

In December 2009, the Israeli Health Ministry was reportedly considering allowing gay couples to have a child through surrogate mothers, according to ministry legal adviser Mira Huebner-Harel. Since 1996 surrogacy for heterosexual couples has been lawful [R1.1].

National

Israel allows an Israeli citizen to sponsor the residency application of their same-sex partner [R1.5].

Previously:

In 2000, Israel quietly began allowing gay citizens' foreign lovers to immigrate [R1.4].

At a Knesset Committee on the Status of Women, the Interior Ministry's Batya Carmon said immigration officials now treat same-sex couples the same as common-law spouses.

A foreign partner must present a request at the district office of the Interior Ministry along with proof of the relationship. The individual will receive a one-year tourist permit that allows employment.

After four years (during which the tourist permit is renewed annually), the individual can request temporary resident status. Several years later, he or she can seek permanent residency and, eventually apply for citizenship.

On 10 August 2011, the Interior Ministry reportedly granted citizenship to Bayardo Alvarez, a non-Jewish gay man married to Jewish man Joshua Goldberg, for the first time applying the Law of Return to a spouse in same-sex marriage. It is unclear whether move sets precedent [R1.3].

In June 2011, Joshua Goldberg and Bayardo Alvarez, both American citizens, emigrated to Israel. Goldberg, who is Jewish, received an Israeli identity card and immigrant certificate on arrival, under the Law of Return. Alvarez, despite exerting much pressure on the ministry, was granted only temporary residence [R1.2].

In April 2008, in a rare occurrence, the interior ministry granted a gay Palestinian man a temporary permit to live with his Israeli partner [R1.1].

Courts & Tribunals

On 19 March 2001, the Israeli High Court of Justice overturned a rabbinical court ruling that prohibited a lesbian from seeing her children from a heterosexual marriage if her female lover was present [R1.3].

In September 2000, the High Court of Justice had asked Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein for his opinion on whether the district and supreme rabbinic courts were empowered to issue a ruling banning a lesbian from spending time with the biological children of her partner [R1.2].

Justices Theodore Or and Yitzchak Zamir and Acting Justice Ayala Procaccia added that if Rubinstein determined that the rabbinic courts did not have the right to rule on the matter, the High Court ruling will automatically go in favor of the couple who petitioned the court against the rabbinic decision without recourse to another hearing. [R1.2]

In early 1999, a judge in the Family Court of Israel granted each of two woman in a lesbian relationship custody rights for each of their non-biological children [R1.1].

This was the first precedent in Israel which granted recognition, even though limited, of the lesbian family.

National

In July 2011, a special exceptions committee, headed by Director of the Interior Ministry's Population and Immigration Administration Amnon Ben-Ami, reportedly approved providing a foreign partner of an Israeli diplomat with a diplomatic passport and Israeli citizenship, allowing him also to join his partner on his mission abroad [R1.3].

In 2002, the chairman of the house committee in Israel's Knesset, Yossi Katz of the Labor Party, has proposed altering the Israeli parliament's rules to ensure that gay partners of Knesset members have the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts [R1.2].

In 1994, same sex unions were recognized for benefit purposes [R1.1].

Cities & Towns

In 2002, the Tel Aviv municipality [regulations] did not discriminate against a person in the conferral of services due to his personal status. The municipality treats couples known to the public, including single sex couples, as couples in every sense, and will confer to them the same discounts and benefits in public services which are provided to married couples [R2.1].

Persons seeking benefits under the new regulations will have to submit an affidavit, signed by an attorney, to the municipality. Copies of the declaration form on the municipality's internet site [R2.1]

Courts & Tribunals

On 03 May 2010, the Tel Aviv District Labor Court ordered the Makefet pension fund to pay a survivor's pension to the surviving partner even though the partners hid their relationship from family members. The court also ruled that same-sex couples should not have the burdensome task of proving that they are in a committed relationship in order to collect such benefits, even if the relationship is a secret among family and acquaintances [R3.2].

In July 2007, after the death of her partner, a 64-year-old lesbian in Israel was granted a widow's pension by the Israeli government [R3.1].

National

In 1992, discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation became unlawful [R1.1].

Legislature

In April 1998, the Israeli Knesset passed a law that bans anti-gay sexual harassment and other anti-gay actions in the workplace and all other facets of life.

Violators face civil and criminal penalities as high as two years in prison.

"Sexual harassment" is defined, in part, as "a despising or humiliating attitude that is shown toward a person regarding his sex or sexuality, including his sexual orientation." [R1.1].

Quaere does the use of the words "his" and … his sexual orientation" thereby exclude lesbians?

National

In 1988, consensual sex between male same-sex couples was lawful [R1.2].

The law apparently does not mention lesbian couples [R1.2].

In December 1999, the then Health Minister Shiomo Benizri said that gays are sick deviants [R1.1].

National

In 2006, under a new proposal by the Israeli government, gay and lesbian couples in Israel would be able to inherit each other's property after death without making a special court application [R1.3].

However, Israel's Justice Minister reportedly revised a draft law on inheritance law for cohabiting unmarried couple to specifically exclude gay and lesbian couples [R1.2].

In February 2002, the Income Tax Authority asked the attorney general to support a lenient interpretation of the inheritance law that would allow same-sex partners to transfer property rights from one to the other without having to pay a tax [R1.1].

By law, the transfer of real estate between partners is tax free, but the language of the law refers to heterosexual couples. The Income Tax Authority, which implements a liberal policy in regard to the sexual makeup of the family unit, would like to allow same-sex couples enjoy the same benefits as do other couples.

Courts & Tribunals

In May 2011, the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court set a legal precedent, declaring a gay Holocaust survivor's life partner was eligible to inherit his entire estate – including his restitution payments [R2.2].

In October 2003, an Israeli tribunal ruled that a gay man cannot claim his deceased partner's inheritance deeming that an Israeli law that recognizes an inheritance right for unmarried sexual partners applies only to heterosexual couples [R2.1].

National

In August 2000, legislation to grant legal recognition to couples whose marriages are not recognized by the rabbinate reportedly would not be extended to include gay and lesbian couples [R1.1].

Courts & Tribunals

In September 2000, recognizing a same-sex marriage was considered not to be within the scope of the family court system, according to a legal opinion submitted to the Ramat Gan Family Court on behalf of Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein [R2.1].

National

On 15 August 2011, a study was released in which LGBT soldiers in the Israeli Defense Force were asked about their treatment throughout the induction process and 40% said they have been subjected to verbal attacks, while 20% claim to have been physically or sexually assaulted [R1.4].

As at February 2006, Israeli teenagers are required to serve in the nation's military. But they can seek an exemption for various reasons and sign up for a national service agency instead, a popular option for among women in the religious population [R1.3].

In 1993, the Israeli government lifted the ban on openly gay men and lesbians joining the services [R1.2].

In July 2000, a study by U.S. researchers found that the presence of gay and lesbian soldiers in the Israeli military did not affect combat readiness, unit cohesion, or military preparedness [R1.2] [R1.1].

Courts & Tribunals

In March 1997, the Israeli Defence Force was appealing a District Court Appeals Committee ruling that gave a military spousal pension to a gay man whose male lover in 1991 [R2.1].

Previously:

In January 1997, the District Court ordered the army to recognise a gay man as the spouse of a deceased male colonel and extend him the same benefits as military widows [R2.1].

State

On 17 May 2010, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu intervened on the side of gay father Don Goldberg stranded in India with his twin sons, overruling the judge's decision. "I spoke this morning with the Interior Ministry and instructed it to relax the law and let the family return to Israel," Netanyahu said [R1.1].

See 2. Courts & Tribunals [R2.11], [R2.10].

Courts & Tribunals

On 16 December 2010, the Jerusalem Family Court ruled that the partner of a man could adopt a child born two years go to the man via a surrogate mother in India [R2.12].

In October 2010, a judicial ombudsman called the judge's handling in the case in which a gay Israeli man who earlier fathered twins with an Indian surrogate before being denied entry back into the country with his children, "unnecessary, hurtful, and beyond the bounds of appropriate behavior" [R2.11].

In May 2010, the Jerusalem family court denied a gay Israeli man, Don Goldberg, reentry into the country with his twin sons, Itai and Liron, born to a surrogate mother in India, pending a paternity test to confirm that he is their father [R2.10].

However, see 1. State [R1.1].

In March 2009, a Tel Aviv family court ruled that a gay couple can adopt the son they took in 14 years ago [R2.9].

In March 2008, the Family Court in Tel Aviv ruled that a gay couple can both register to be their adopted son's father [R2.8].

In December 2007, Israel's Supreme Court said the government must recognise foreign adoptions by same-sex parents [R2.7].

In May 2000, the High Court of Justice allowed a lesbian spouse to be registered as the second parent of her partner's biological son [R2.6].

In January 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that a lesbian couple is able to legally adopt each other's children [R2.5].

In November 2005, the Be'er Sheva Family Court ruled that a lesbian woman can adopt her female partner's daughter [R2.4].

In 2002, a homosexual couple petitioned the High Court of Justice requesting that it instruct the Interior Ministry to register both men as fathers of a child they have adopted in the US where the authorities registered both men as the fathers of the boy [R2.3] [R2.2].

In August 1999, a request by a lesbian couple for co-adoption of their non-biological children was denied by the Family Court in Israel [R2.1].

National

In February 2002, the Income Tax Authority asked the attorney general to support a lenient interpretation of the inheritance law that would allow same-sex partners to transfer property rights from one to the other without having to pay a tax [R1.1].

By law, the transfer of real estate between partners is tax free, but the language of the law refers to heterosexual couples. The Income Tax Authority, which implements a liberal policy in regard to the sexual makeup of the family unit, would like to allow same-sex couples enjoy the same benefits as do other couples.