Amendment to Israel's Citizenship Law

By Naomi Freedman
Shlihat Aliyah to the Conservative Movement
USCJ Department of Youth and Young Adult Services

In Israel, there are a few ways to become an Israeli citizen. The most famous one is by "the law of return" which gives Jews all around the world the opportunity to make aliyah and become Israeli citizens. Other ways to become an Israeli citizen are by having lived in Israel in the years of the British mandate, being born to Israeli parents abroad, or through naturalization (mostly by means of marrying an Israeli citizen).

As the proportion of non-Jewish citizens in Israel is growing, concerns about the Jewish identity of Israel are rising. This is one of the motivations for the suggested amendment of Israel's Citizenship law, raised by Yisrael Beiteinu, a right wing party led by Avigdor Liberman, requiring an additional pledge of allegiance for a Jewish and democratic Israel as part of the naturalization process. This amendment, adopted recently by the Israeli government, raised the anger of many Knesset members, claiming that Israel cannot force new citizens to pledge allegiance to a state that is Jewish if they are not Jewish.

I would like to argue that this should not be the core of the debate. Pledging allegiance to a Jewish state does not mean conversion to Judaism. Israel is a state that respects her minorities: Muslims, Christians, Druze and more. New citizens have to realize that they are joining a Jewish state, the only Jewish state in the world. By becoming a citizen, one becomes part of a country, not only to pay taxes, but also to be an internal part of the society in the country.

I think the real threat is not that Israel won't be Jewish, but that it won't be democratic. Some Ultra-Orthodox Haredim, for example, do not respect the democratic values of Israel; they do not share the responsibilities of Israel's citizens (such as going to the army and working) and do not obey the rules of the Israeli Supreme Court (such as in the case of the discrimination against the Sephardic schoolgirls in Emanuel). Ironically, when a Haredi Jew wants to become an Israeli citizen, he does not need to pledge allegiance to Israel, since he is becoming a citizen through the law of return and not through the naturalization process.

I think that it is a privilege to become an Israeli citizen, and if Israel adds the amendment, it is important that every person who wants to become an Israeli citizen (even by the law of return) will pledge allegiance to a Jewish and democratic Israel.

[Posted 11/6/10]