Israel’s coalition government is weighing a proposed change to one of the state’s most foundational laws — the Law of Return — that would dramatically alter the criteria for who may claim citizenship as a Jew, JTA reports.
The legislation seeks to abolish the clause that currently allows individuals with at least one Jewish grandparent to immigrate to Israel, even if they are not considered Jewish by halacha. Since 1970, that clause has enabled roughly half a million people to move to Israel, but it has also sparked growing internal debate and international concern, particularly among Jewish communities abroad.
The proposed legislation is set to be discussed Sunday by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, a key body that determines whether government support will be granted for a bill’s advancement in the Knesset. If the committee gives the green light, it signals that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s administration is likely to endorse the law as it moves forward.
Avi Maoz, leader of the right-wing Noam faction and the bill’s sponsor, left the coalition earlier this year, accusing the government of failing to pursue a robust religious-nationalist agenda. On the docket alongside his Law of Return amendment is another controversial Maoz bill that would prohibit the teaching of LGBTQ-related content in Israeli schools.
Maoz and like-minded legislators argue that allowing immigration under the current rules weakens Israel’s Jewish identity.
“In its current form, the Law of Return allows even the grandson of a Jew to receive immigrant status and rights, even if he himself, and sometimes even his parents, are no longer Jewish,” says an explanatory note attached to Maoz’s bill. “This situation means that the law is being exploited by many who have severed all ties with the Jewish people and its traditions, and in effect empties the law of its original intention, which was to open the country’s gates to the Jews of the Diaspora.”
This proposal echoes similar efforts made in the past by other members of the Netanyahu coalition, such as Likud MK Shlomo Karhi, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and far-right legislator Simcha Rothman, all of whom have previously called for ending the “grandparent clause.” Ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition have also long opposed it, viewing it as inconsistent with traditional religious standards.
Backers of the current version of the law argue that it reflects Israel’s purpose as a haven for all those with Jewish roots, including individuals who don’t meet Orthodox standards but still feel a strong sense of Jewish identity. The provision was added in 1970, in part as a response to the Nuremberg Laws, which defined Jews by ancestry and subjected anyone with a single Jewish grandparent to persecution.
Supporters also point out that the clause has been critical in enabling Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union. Due to decades of religious repression, many immigrants from that region could not prove maternal Jewish lineage, but nevertheless retained a powerful connection to Jewish culture and heritage.
According to traditional Jewish law, a person is only considered Jewish if their mother is Jewish or they undergo a recognized conversion process. Religious political parties in Israel have long pushed to keep the authority over conversions in the hands of Orthodox rabbis.
Stuart Weinblatt, a well-known Conservative rabbi and head of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, noted that Jewish communities abroad overwhelmingly support keeping the grandparent clause in place.
“I believe very strongly that issues such as security and borders should be decided by the sovereign democratically elected government of Israel, but there are other issues, which have an impact on Jewish peoplehood, which is worldwide, and it’s important to consider the wider consequences,” Weinblatt said.
He urged lawmakers to view immigrants with partial Jewish ancestry not as a challenge but as an opportunity, encouraging a more inclusive approach rooted in unity rather than exclusion.
“There are people who have this connection to Judaism and the Jewish people, and instead of looking at closing the door, we should be welcoming them back into the fold, capitalizing on their desire to make their future in the homeland of the Jewish people,” he said.
{Matzav.com}