BICOM

Health Minister and Yesh Atid MK Yael German yesterday announced her support for a bill which would expand Israel’s surrogacy services to singles and same-sex couples. The initiative is likely to contribute to current tensions between Yesh Atid and Jewish Home.

German yesterday said that she would support legislation based on the recommendations of the Mor- Yosef Committee, established in 2010 to reform the surrogacy process. The current law permits only heterosexual couples to give birth through a surrogate mother. The Mor-Yosef recommendations, which would be enshrined in German’s bill, call for an extention of the option of surrogacy to singles and couples of all sexual orientations. Openly gay Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz called it “an important step but the path to equality is still long.”

German’s announcement is expected to cause some consternation among Yesh Atid’s coalition partner Jewish Home, which last week blocked a preliminary reading of a Yesh Atid-backed bill to grant equal tax credits to same-sex couples. Jewish Home leader and Economics Minister Naftali Bennett told Channel Two “We support tax credits for same-sex couples” but complained that “Yesh Atid and [Hatnuah leader Tzipi] Livni want to change the entire status of marriage in Israel on the back of these credits. That’s a big discussion. We ought to have it, not slip it through on the side.”

Although Yesh Atid and Jewish Home became unlikely allies during coalition talks following January’s election, pledging to work closely on issues of common ground, cracks have been evident in the informal alliance this week. On Tuesday, Yesh Atid MKs blocked the allocation of around £15million towards development in existing West Bank settlements, an issue of significant importance to Jewish Home. Meanwhile, Jewish Home’s Deputy Minister for Religious Services Eli Ben-Dahan said he would block a bill on reforming the process of filing for divorce proposed by Yesh Atid MK Aliza Lavie and instead propose his own legislation.