Free Republic

Hebrew-language media reported Thursday that Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has walked back a recent promise he had made not to alter the Law of Return, as part of a coalition agreement with the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and Shas parties. The proposition to change the law has roiled Israeli politicians, including those within Netanyahu’s Likud party. Prominent Netanyahu ally Yuli Edelstein spoke out against any proposed changes, saying that adjusting the law was a slippery slope that could lead to the policy’s demise. On the other hand, former Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana of the National Unity party, who clashed...

The Israeli government is reportedly preparing for the possibility of thousands of Ukrainian Jews immigrating to the Jewish state in the event of a Russian invasion. Representatives of various Israeli government bodies met Sunday to discuss such a development, including the Prime Minister's Office, Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Diaspora Affairs Ministry, and the Jewish Agency. Also involved in the government briefing was Nativ, the organization that maintains connections between Israel and Jews in former Soviet bloc countries, the Haaretz daily newspaper reported. Some 75,000 people living in eastern Ukraine are eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.

Statistically speaking, the bulk of the million newcomers who emigrated largely from today's Russia and Ukraine, but also from assorted neighboring countries as well as Ethiopia, have been absorbed much more smoothly than even the rosiest forecasts had suggested back when they arrived here. But one problem looms larger than all the rest and clouds this entire glorious chapter in Israeli history: conversion. The idea behind the Law of Return, that anyone with a single Jewish grandparent - who therefore would have been Jewish enough for Hitler to murder in his gas chambers - will be offered citizenship in the...

I met an old friend at a high school reunion, and he informed me of plans he has to make an aliyah (immigrate) to Israel. What is interesting about the individual, is that he is a self-proclaimed deist, but one who was raised in a Jewish household (both parents Jewish), which makes him eligible to immigrate under Israel's law of return. From him, I came to learn that anyone with a Jewish parent is eligible to immigrate to Israel. However, a gentile who converts to Reform or Conservative Judaism, is not eligible under Israel's law of return. What this means,...