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Jun 9, 2014
Proposed Law: Making incest illegal
MK Adi Kol (Yesh Atid) announced that she is proposing a law that would make incest illegal.
It seems that while many forms of incest are already illegal by other laws, such as sexual relations with minors or abuse of power, it seems that adult incestuous relationships have fallen through the legislative cracks and is somehow legal, though abhorrent.
Not to worry, MK Adi Kol has stepped in to fill the void and make even adult incestuous relationships illegal (check the post, if you use Facebook. the comments are great).
(hattip to Elli Fischer)
Perhaps it is a silly law, perhaps it is necessary. I have no idea. I don't know how often such relationships occur in Israel.
Perhaps the biggest problem with Kol's suggestion is that she bases making such a relationship illegal on the fact that there is some abuse of power or authority going on. I don't know why she is assuming every incestuous relationship is some form of abuse of power. If she is making it illegal because of the abhorrence of the situation, it should have nothing to do with abuse of authority, as there might be enough situations in which it is completely consensual with no abuse of authority.
I figure that she, and Yesh Atid, will probably be accused of another anti-haredi bill, just like every Yesh Atid law is anti-haredi. it will be explained that this is anti-haredi because its target will be the haredi (hassidic) community where it is common for first cousins to marry...
It seems that while many forms of incest are already illegal by other laws, such as sexual relations with minors or abuse of power, it seems that adult incestuous relationships have fallen through the legislative cracks and is somehow legal, though abhorrent.
Not to worry, MK Adi Kol has stepped in to fill the void and make even adult incestuous relationships illegal (check the post, if you use Facebook. the comments are great).
(hattip to Elli Fischer)
Perhaps it is a silly law, perhaps it is necessary. I have no idea. I don't know how often such relationships occur in Israel.
Perhaps the biggest problem with Kol's suggestion is that she bases making such a relationship illegal on the fact that there is some abuse of power or authority going on. I don't know why she is assuming every incestuous relationship is some form of abuse of power. If she is making it illegal because of the abhorrence of the situation, it should have nothing to do with abuse of authority, as there might be enough situations in which it is completely consensual with no abuse of authority.
I figure that she, and Yesh Atid, will probably be accused of another anti-haredi bill, just like every Yesh Atid law is anti-haredi. it will be explained that this is anti-haredi because its target will be the haredi (hassidic) community where it is common for first cousins to marry...
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Depending upon how you define a "relative," this may or may not be anti-haredi. If you limit "relative" to the forbidden relations in the Torah, then this could be a good bill.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, what is the justification for forbidding two consenting adults (her Facebook page cites 21 as the age of consent) from marrying? Seriously, marrying your first cousin who is over 21 is the equivalent of rape? Sounds like a solution looking for a problem.
(One of my favorite cases in law school involved an accommodation of U.S. law to Jewish religious sensibilities. The Torah forbids and aunt from marrying her nephew, but an uncle may marry his niece. Although Western European tradition, and the law of every U.S. state, outlaws this, the State of Rhode Island permits it as an exception for persons of "the Hebrew faith." The case was by the NY Court of Appeals, and dealt with whether New York would recognize such a marriage. The uncle and niece in that case lived in New York, but they packed off to Rhode Island for the chasunah and a week of sheva berachos.)