Illustration: New immigrants arrive at Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel on August 14, 2019 (Photo: Flash90).
Children whose fathers converted to Judaism and immigrated to Israel after birth will be eligible to obtain Israeli citizenship in the future, the Supreme Court ruled this week.
Judge Ruth Ronen and Interim Chief Justice Uzi Fogelman voted in favor of the ruling, while Judge Alex Stein dissented and delivered an impassioned dissent.
Ronen argued that the ruling expressed the objective of Israeli nationality law to preserve family unity and the welfare of children, while preventing a situation in which minors could be left stateless and separated from their parents.
The issue of citizenship in Israel is complex. It is regulated by both the Citizenship Law and the Law of Return, which gives all Jews, and those with at least one Jewish grandparent, the right to immigrate to Israel.
Since the law is based on the definition of Jewish, many cases surrounding the exact definition of this issue have been heard in the High Court in the past.
The lawsuit, decided this week, was brought by the Clement family, members of Dimona’s African Hebrew Israelite community, most of whom are African-American and originally from the Chicago area.
According to Haaretz, the Clement family was appealing a Beersheba District Court ruling that rejected their citizenship application.
The family originally left the United States and illegally entered Israel about 20 years ago with their four children, joining the Dimona community. They went on to have three more children, but never received legal status in Israel because they hid them from Israeli authorities.
In 2005, the father, Eliezer Klement, converted to Judaism in the United States and subsequently returned to Israel and obtained citizenship under the Law of Return. After the birth of five more children, the family began a process of regulating their children’s status and applied for citizenship for their children.
In December 2019, the Israeli government approved granting citizenship to four children born in Israel after their fathers converted to Israel, on the basis that they were born in Israel to parents with Israeli nationality.
Although the ruling is based on an extreme and unusual case, it could have an impact on many non-Jews and part-Jewish immigrants to Israel, including those who belong to Messianic and evangelical communities.
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