The Ministerial Committee for Legislation unanimously rejected Sunday a bill that would enshrine in law married mortgage benefits for same-sex couples. The ministers saw “the proposal as unnecessary,” a cabinet statement said Sunday afternoon.

MK Dov Khenin (Photo: Al Ittihad)

The legislation was sponsored by MK Dov Khenin (Hadash).  “The time has come for equality to be anchored in distinct legislation,” Khenin said in reaction to the bill’s defeat “and not in all sorts of regulations hidden under the table.” The issue of the definition of marriage and family, which has proven contentious in the UK, France, the US and other Western countries, has not been similarly volatile in Israel in recent years. However, the debate has heated up this month as bills dealing with same-sex benefits have reached the cabinet and Knesset plenum.