Israeli Court Holds Jewish Resident Cannot Obtain Citizenship Outside Law of Return

According to Haaretz, in Israel on Tuesday a district court in Haifa rejected an appeal by 89-year old  Professor Uzzi Ornan, founder of the League against Religious Coercion in Israel, seeking to force the Interior Ministry to recognize his Israeli citizenship on the ground he was born in Israel, not because he is Jewish. Ornan was born in Jerusalem, but was exiled by the British in 1944 to Eritrea. When he returned to Israel in 1948, he insisted that in the first census he be listed as having no religion (even though he was born to a Jewish mother), and that his nationality be listed as Hebrew. The Law of Return (full text) provides that its citizenship provisions also extend to every Jew who immigrated to Israel before the passage of the Law of Return in 1950.  It defines as a Jew, anyone "who was born of a Jewish mother or has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion." In this week's case, Ornan insisted that he was "of another religion."  The State Prosecutors Office argued, however, that the fact Ornan is listed in the population registry as having no religion does not affect his being Jewish under the halachic test set out in the Law of Return. The court agreed.