The High Court of Justice has ordered the state to explain why, nearly 30 years after the civil burial law was enacted, Jerusalem residents still lack access to a state-funded civil cemetery. In a conditional order, the justices directed the Religious Services Ministry, Finance Ministry, and Jerusalem Jewish Burial Council to justify their failure to establish and fund such a site and to address claims that regulatory and financial barriers have made it impossible for non-Orthodox groups to operate one.

The petition was filed by Menucha Nechona Jerusalem along with Reform and Masorti movement organizations and other advocates, who argue that although the law guarantees the right to civil burial, it has not been meaningfully implemented in the capital. Families seeking a non-Orthodox burial are often forced to look outside Jerusalem. During the hearing, the justices expressed skepticism toward the state’s position, emphasizing that the law imposes a duty to provide civil burial rather than leaving it to discretion.

The state contends that high development costs at the designated Har Hamenuchot site, estimated at about 15 million shekels, and unmet conditions by the petitioner have delayed the project. Officials argue that the law ensures access to civil burial but does not require the state to build or directly finance a cemetery in the manner demanded. Petitioners counter that the financial structure effectively turns a statutory right into a competition only well-established religious burial societies can afford to win.

The court’s order does not resolve the case but shifts the burden to the state to justify its actions by July 1. The decision signals growing judicial concern that a legal right without a practical mechanism for implementation leaves Jerusalem residents without the alternative burial option promised by law.