A bill that would require local Jewish ritual baths to operate strictly according to halakha and to adhere to the guidelines of the Chief Rabbinate was passed by the Knesset in its preliminary reading on Wednesday. […]

The organizations that are part of the team fighting the bill are [Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah], Itim, Kolech, Let Us Immerse in Peace and the Yerushalmim faction on the Jerusalem City Council and Advot, a group that works to improve the mikveh experience.

The bill was also criticized by the Israel Democracy Institute, whose president, Yohanan Plesner, said, “This is a contemptible bill which continues the trend of alienation and contempt that large numbers of Israelis feel toward the rabbinic establishment. It seems the whole purpose of the rabbinic establishment is to create a barrier, to exclude entire populations, isolate Israel and undermine it on a strategic level vis a vis the Diaspora.”