Child Support for Muslim Children in Family Courts in Today’s Israel

The dual legal system of religious and civil law in Israel and the existence of a religious court system alongside a civil one causes distortions in the implementation of the rights and duties of husbands and wives. Due to this duality, in practice, in Israel, there is neither religious law nor law based on equality. This hybrid legal system leads to the reinforcement of what I will call here “patriarchal liberalism,” which means that there is a development in a liberal direction alongside obstacles and barriers that prevent advancement to full equality between men and women. Although this legal hybridity leads to the introduction of liberal norms into the legal relations between men and women, it also preserves patriarchal features. This article focuses on child support allotted to Muslim children in family courts in Israel. Since 2001, both shariʿa courts and family courts may rule in matters of child support for Muslim children, which means that there is parallel jurisdiction between the Muslim religious law according to religious belonging of the parties involved in cases.