The debate wasn’t about defence, health care, or even budget cuts. At its centre was a man refusing to give his wife a divorce.

In Israel, there is no civil divorce. Nor is there separation of religion and state. All divorces are dealt with by respective religious courts, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, etc. In Judaism, a man must give his wife a writ of divorce. If he does not, she is an agunah, chained to the marriage and unable to marry another man.

The rabbinic courts, which handle all Jewish divorce cases, have the legal power to order a man to divorce his wife. This order happens rarely and generally only after the wife has proven just cause, such as violence or other abuse. Should the man refuse, the court can level sanctions against him, ranging from public shaming, where his identity is publicised and the public is told to shun him, to being put in jail.

Yaron Attias is one such refuser. The rabbinic court published his name to add public pressure to its demand that he release his wife, Mazal Dadon. The story made the news and Attias appeared on national television. As a result, he became a notorious household name. So, when he was spotted walking around the Knesset as an invited guest, outrage ensued.

MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) took to the podium, demanding to know who had invited Attias to the Knesset. A past director of an organisation dedicated to freeing agunot, Azaria is very familiar with the tactics used by rabbinic courts, as well as those of get refusers. She called out MK Rabbi Yehuda Glick (Likud) when it became clear that it was he who had issued the invitation.

Glick did not respond to her demand for an explanation of Attias’s presence at the Knesset. When Glick later spoke from the podium on another issue, he ignored the MKs who shouted at him to explain himself. In protest, ten female and a few male MKs from across the political spectrum walked out.

It might seem strange, such a public furore over a divorcing couple. How bizarre for a parliamentary meeting to erupt over a private domestic dispute. But divorce is anything but private in Israel, where the state mandates the otherwise religious process, and until a woman is freed religiously, she is not free legally.

So rarely does a rabbinic court order a man to give a get, that those who fight for women’s rights routinely see this court as the enemy. More often, the court allows a man to make monetary and custodial demands in exchange for the wife’s freedom. This protest was shocking in that those normally aligned with Glick’s liberal-minded defence of individual rights, found themselves on the same side as the hated courts and raging at Glick.

A week later, Glick explained his actions, stating that he had wanted to help resolve the dispute and free Mazal Dadon from her marriage. He had been trying to help the divorcing couple come to an agreement. His attempts failed, however — as had all attempts by the rabbinic court, and well-meaning others over the past two years. This is mainly because when a man refuses to free his wife from their marriage, it isn’t about one specific demand, but rather the refusal to let her go. Pnina Omer, director of Yad La’Isha, an organization that advocates for agunot says, “We often see husbands who change their demands. The more the woman agrees to the terms, the more he raises new ones. The power given by husbands to control a woman’s freedom is the greatest tragedy.” Azaria adds: “The only way to resolve this imbalance, where a woman is forced to negotiate for her freedom is to separate the giving of the get from everything else in the process of separation.” As I wrote this, news came in that Attias had been arrested, a rare example of the rabbinical courts using their power to punish a man for failing to give his wife a get. Let’s hope MKs learn from this and act to separate the giving of the get from the divorce settlements.

For why do we have a state that is both Jewish and democratic if not to uphold the values of both?

Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll is a writer and activist

UPDATE: Aftre being put in prison, on Sunday 3rd June, Yaron Attias granted a get.