With over 400,000 Israelis unaffiliated with any religion, the country's civil burial system is insufficient, a report by the Knesset Research and Information Center revealed this week.
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The data was submitted ahead of Tuesday's joint meeting by the Constitution and the Jewish Religious Services committees to discuss civil burial in Israel.
According to the law, which was enacted in 1996, every Israeli citizen has the right to receive a civil burial. It also mandates the establishment of civil cemeteries across Israel, with a reasonable distance between them. But according to the report, this is not the case.
Out of the 1,200 cemeteries in Israel, only 27 provide civil burial services de facto. Another four provide such services without a valid burial license or are in the process of renewing it.
Of those who do provide burial services, the vast majority only do so for local residents or those of nearby cities. Only three provide state-funded burials to any Israeli.
The report further shows that not only has the civil burial system not been built in the last 30 years, but the establishment of civil cemeteries across Israel also seems nowhere in sight.
The Religious Affairs Ministry is said to have no data as to how many Israelis were buried in civil ceremonies between 2019-2021, or as to how many are expected to in the coming years.
The Religious Affairs Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
MK Gilad Kariv, who chaired Tuesday's meeting, said, "We are very concerned about the [lack] of implementation of the law, and this is the first step that can be taken in cooperation with all the ministries to advance alternative civil burial.
"As someone who has accompanied communities and people in their most difficult times, I can say that there is a large public that is forced to go through a lengthy ordeal in order to perform the basic mitzvah [commandment] of honoring the dead and to bring their loved ones to a proper burial," he said.
Jewish Religious Services Committee Chair MK Yulia Malinovsky said, "The largest public in Israel is the one that has no choice. The development of [civil burial in Israel] cannot be placed in the hands of private bodies.
"As for the accessibility of information [on civil cemeteries], the website of the Ministry of Religious Services has to have an organized list of plots, including phone numbers, and it has to clarify that the burial is free," she said.
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