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The Law of Return is not the problem
By Shlomo Avnieri
tags: c

Recently voiced demands for changing the Law of Return focus on the wrong aspect of the issue of aliyah. On the one hand, the Law of Return is a central idea in Israel's character as the state of the Jewish nation, and at its root is an expression of the basic element of solidarity. On the other hand, by being an immigration law, it has built-in distinctions between different populations - not on the basis of economic or professional criteria (as is commonly accepted in immigration laws in most democracies), but on the basis of identity and solidarity.

The argument voiced recently is that there is a need to cancel or restrict the "grandchild clause" in the law, which grants the right to immigrate to Israel to anyone who has at least one Jewish grandparent. As it stands now, it is argued, persons who have no real ties to the Jewish people are able to come to Israel. This is true, but the way of overcoming this is not by amending the Law of Return. Precisely because of its complex nature, any attempt to alter it may result in a situation in which the Knesset passes other amendments to the law that at this point no one wants.

The problem is not in the law but in the way it is implemented. The grandchild clause is justified: if someone discovers his Jewish background and wishes to be part of the nation of Israel in its sovereign country, he should be welcomed with open arms. However, today's reality is that the institutions dealing with immigration from the former Soviet Union (the Jewish Agency and Nativ) are doing something else. These organizations are actively searching for these grandchildren, undertaking active public relations among communities in the Russian periphery who are not motivated to search for their Jewish roots, and enticing them through promises that by immigrating they will be able to lift themselves from their difficult economic condition.
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Most of the Jews who wanted to leave the Commonwealth of Independent States have already done so - most of them coming to Israel but many also going to the United States and Germany. Currently, most of the immigrants from these countries are not Jews, they are merely "entitled to aliyah," which means they are not Jewish according to any criteria. As such, the number of representatives of the aliyah-related institutions should be diminished because, in the absence of Jewish candidates for immigration, they make every effort - at times driven by demographic considerations - to find persons "entitled to aliyah" but who lack any form of Jewish identity.

Indeed, Jews must be encouraged to immigrate to Israel, but not those lacking real connections to the Jewish people. It should come as no surprise that some of the immigrants experience an identity crisis once in Israel, and some bring with them cultures of violence and human behavior that are normally not found in Jewish communities.

Israel needs to continue implementing the Law of Return, including the grandchild clause: whoever comes to an Israeli embassy and asks to immigrate - that is his right. But the search for offspring of Jews should cease, and so should the doling out of all sorts of promises that bring people to Israel for whom the Law of Return was not intended.

Toward this end, there is a need for a government decision which will change the policy and instruct the Jewish Agency and other organizations to operate according to the inherent logic of the Law of Return: Jewish solidarity yes; useless efforts to find Jews in places where they do not exist, no.

A similarly courageous decision could also be made in the case of the Falashmura, who are clearly not Jewish since they need to undergo conversion in Israel and arrive here within the parameters of family reunification (part of the Law of Entry into Israel), and not on the basis of the Law of Return. It is a serious mistake, both from a human and a national point of view, to think that bringing groups that are not Jewish will strengthen the State of Israel. On the contrary: it weakens its character as a state for the Jewish nation.

In parallel, the government would be well advised to set an annual quota for immigrants escaping crises, such as the refugees from Darfur, so that Israel will be loyal to both Jewish and universal values that require the offering of assistance to persecuted groups.

So far these matters - that are interconnected - have been dealt with separately and specifically by different organizations, and usually in response to ongoing developments. What is needed is an integrated government discussion on the principles of all of these issues.

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  1.   Correcy: One who doesn`t feel herself/himself friendly to Israel 10:02  |  Vittorio 01/10/07
  2.   The Law of Return is not the problem 11:00  |  Jehoshua M.Bjoerkman 01/10/07
  3.   Thank you, Shlomo 11:06  |  Oleh 01/10/07
  4.   The right of religion 11:10  |  Spoff 01/10/07
  5.   Law of Return 11:14  |  Stuart Marks 01/10/07
  6.   change it 11:35  |  ravi 01/10/07
  7.   If not amending the law then teach authentic Judaism 11:57  |  Jewboy and proud 01/10/07
  8.   A `jewish` state in the 21st century is an ethnocracy not a 12:01  |  lakshmi 01/10/07
  9.   Spof and racism: new zealand restricted immigration once 12:01  |  A jew 01/10/07
  10.   Spoff in `New Zealand` 12:03  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 01/10/07
  11.   Stuart Marks and ignorant Fake conversions. 12:04  |  Another Jew 01/10/07
  12.   ravi 12:05  |  jew 01/10/07
  13.   #6 ravi: you mean the Hareidim I take it. 12:07  |  Jewboy and proud 01/10/07
  14.   ravi of chandigarh "israel is like the apartheid of south africa" 12:12  |  timesofindia 01/10/07
  15.   lakshmi "israel is an ethnocracy" 12:17  |  jaibengal 01/10/07
  16.   Zionist self-delusion 12:25  |  Hannah 01/10/07
  17.   The Lubavitcher Rebbe fought that only those with a Jewish mother 12:51  |  David 01/10/07
  18.   Crazy Hannah and Rothschildia (so-called) 12:57  |  Hannah 01/10/07
  19.   new synagogues 13:45  |  ROB OF MELBOURNE AUS 01/10/07
  20.   Law of Return is basic to all but arabist apologists 14:04  |  peter 01/10/07
  21.   response to #17 14:22  |  sandra chitayat 01/10/07
  22.   The author is wrong 14:31  |  Gene 01/10/07
  23.   South America 14:34  |  Tova 01/10/07
  24.   Difference 15:17  |  Dima 01/10/07
  25.   I don`t know what this artical is about 15:27  |  Ron 01/10/07
  26.   Keep it simple, Shlomo 15:52  |  Tosefta 01/10/07
  27.   12...jew.... 14..timesofindia 15:53  |  ravi 01/10/07
  28.   A perspective from a gentile who converted. 15:53  |  John Allen 01/10/07
  29.   Having DNA tests to determine if one is a jew seems so outlandish 16:08  |  lakshmi 01/10/07
  30.   anyone can become a citizen, law of return 16:11  |  Another Jew 01/10/07
  31.   John Allen and genuine conversion. 16:14  |  Another Jew 01/10/07
  32.   What DNA tests? 16:37  |  leven5 01/10/07
  33.   tobin tax 16:42  |  losman 01/10/07
  34.   To oleh 16:43  |  Kurt 01/10/07
  35.   ravi an answer at last 16:43  |  timesofindia 01/10/07
  36.   only children with a Jewish mother? 16:45  |  leven5 01/10/07
  37.   to Rob of Melbourne 16:47  |  leven5 01/10/07
  38.   ravi we in israel are not concerned by skin colour 16:50  |  timesofindia 01/10/07
  39.   in times of trouble 16:51  |  Dan 01/10/07
  40.   lakshmi "israel does not have a constitution" 16:53  |  farah and tabuh 01/10/07
  41.   To Dima 17:01  |  Gene 01/10/07
  42.   to Margie 17:03  |  leven5 01/10/07
  43.   to timesofindia 17:06  |  leven5 01/10/07
  44.   Leven5 17:12  |  Dima 01/10/07
  45.   #36Leven yes the rabbis can explain that. 17:23  |  Another hareidi Jew 01/10/07
  46.   Judaism survived for 3500 years without "zionism" 17:25  |  Jewboy 01/10/07
  47.   Gene who told you such stupidity. 17:28  |  Another Jew 01/10/07
  48.   Leven get your facts right. 17:33  |  Jewboy 01/10/07
  49.   "10 Margie on her second Apartheid System 17:34  |  Labhras 01/10/07
  50.   Ethiopians are free to marry whomever they like 17:34  |  A jew 01/10/07
  51.   to Jewboy 17:43  |  leven5 01/10/07
  52.   "38 timesofindia 17:49  |  Labhras 01/10/07
  53.   To another (ignorant) Jew 17:52  |  Gene 01/10/07
  54.   Russian Jews preferred America over Israel 17:53  |  Ibrahim 01/10/07
  55.   To Kurt #34 - Do you know what is meant by `Falashmura`? 17:55  |  Oleh 01/10/07
  56.   to Jewboy 17:56  |  leven5 01/10/07
  57.   #32 18:02  |  Levy 01/10/07
  58.   to Another hareidi Jew 18:03  |  leven5 01/10/07
  59.   to A Jew 18:06  |  leven5 01/10/07
  60.   #49 Irish rubbernecker tzittering again 18:07  |  peter 01/10/07
  61.   30 another jew,an ethnic jew who has converted to another 18:17  |  lakshmi 01/10/07
  62.   The jewish state is not a secular liberal democracy,it is an 18:31  |  lakshmi 01/10/07
  63.   leiven most would and some wouldn`t 18:35  |  timesofindia 01/10/07
  64.   leiven 5 anybody who feels he is jewish is jewish 18:38  |  timesofindia 01/10/07
  65.   John Allen - #28 18:39  |  Polybios 01/10/07
  66.   leven5 - #43 18:48  |  Polybios 01/10/07
  67.   #51 Labhras and enemy population 18:54  |  peter 01/10/07
  68.   Every Western Democracy devides strictly Religion from State 19:19  |  Kris 01/10/07
  69.   #67 Brer Wabbit on the loose again 19:25  |  Labhras 01/10/07
  70.   # 62 Lapsh, What a state with a third of population... 19:27  |  Misha 01/10/07
  71.   54Ibrahim,in fact the majority of jews after WW II preferred to 19:35  |  lakshmi 01/10/07
  72.   Ibrahim 20:01  |  Gina 01/10/07
  73.   # 54 And what brought you, Ahmed here?... 20:02  |  Misha 01/10/07
  74.   Tosefta on the Fashmura 20:02  |  Kapule David Mabuta 01/10/07
  75.   # 70 Is that so, untouchable Lapsh? 20:05  |  Misha 01/10/07
  76.   You don`t discover Jewish roots 20:21  |  Marilyn 01/10/07
  77.   unleavened leven in Australia 20:24  |  Margie 01/10/07
  78.   What about Ethiopians, bnei Menashe, etc? 20:30  |  Cal 01/10/07
  79.   Falashmura (Kapule David Mabuta #73) 20:48  |  Tosefta 01/10/07
  80.   #70 lakshmi 20:49  |  Sarah 01/10/07
  81.   lakshmi"israel is an ethnocracy" 20:51  |  nehru