A case of incompetent headline writing!

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/id-marry-him-in-an-instant

The author of this article (an Orthodox rabbi) doesn't actually want to marry Olympic gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat, in the sense of becoming his husband. He means he would like to perform Dolgopyat's wedding to the latter's fiancee, despite the fact he is not legally considered Jewish under Israeli law. Unlike the official rabbinic authorities, this guy would be satisfied with a quickie conversion (my term, not his).

On a more serious note, Dolgopyat's case highlights the problems faced by hundreds of thousands of Israelis who are not legally Jewish and/or want to do an interfaith marriage, and therefore cannot get married in Israel, because Israel has no civil marriage law. Israelis can only get married by officially sanctioned religious authorities (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, etc.), and none of them are willing to perform intermarriages.

There is a way around this problem: Israel will recognize secular marriages performed abroad. Thus, for example, one of my Israeli relatives married a non-Jewish Russian immigrant (Israel has many such by virtue of admitting numerous non-Jewish family members of Russian Jews) and had the ceremony done in the Dominican Republic.

Still, it's both ridiculous and unjust for a modern liberal democracy to give religious authorities veto power over who can get married to whom. Israel would do well to fix this, and indeed polls show about 70% of Israelis support legalizing civil marriage. What prevents it is the fact that Haredi religious parties are crucial components of almost every ruling coalition, and they will not support a government that pushes through this reform.