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Revoking Israeli citizenship after three decades?

Joshua Pex
Joshua Pex

Court rules against the Ministry of Interior on Revoking Israeli citizenship gained on false pretenses

While watching the people closest to him immigrating to Israel during the 1990s, “Max” (name altered for the purposes of this article) decided that he would like to follow their example. Unlike his closest friends, Max was not Jewish, therefore not qualified to make Aliyah. Nonetheless, he immigrated to Israel in 1990 – on his birth certificate, he was able to erase his mother’s original religion and replace it with “Jewish”, in order to qualify for Aliyah under the 1950 Law of Return.

What is Aliyah?

The Law of Return, allows any person who is Jewish and/or of Jewish descent to obtain Israeli citizenship, also known as making Aliyah – “Returning to Israel”. This means that any person who was born to a Jewish parent/grandparent can generally easily qualify for Israeli immigration, provided adequate documentation and proof of their Jewish descent is available.

Revoking Israeli citizenship

Max’s Aliyah

In the 1990’s, around one million individuals made Aliyah to Israel from Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet Union countries, so the process was expedited to safely process the large number of citizenship applications. The files and documentation of each immigrant was not examined with as much caution and depth as usual. Over the next few years, Nativ (a department of the Ministry of Interior charged with reviewing documentation from FSU countries) continued to review the documentation of each immigrant, in order to ensure the legitimacy of their application. During this process, they noticed an issue with the documentation provided by Max.

In 1992, Max was called for an official interview at the Ministry of Interior, where he immediately admitted to his act of falsifying documents in order to make Aliyah. When obtaining Israeli citizenship, an individual is given a passport, as well as an Israeli ID (a “Teudat Zehut”). The ID contains the individual’s name, birthday, nationality, religion, and more. Shortly after Max’s plea, the ministry ordered the status on his ID be changed. His nationality was changed to Russian, and according to his request, his religion was left blank, as he did not follow any religious denomination. The ministry representatives then stated that they will be in contact in order to revoke the citizenship falsely obtained by Max.

Marriage Visa

Eighteen years passed with no word from the Ministry, leaving Max to continue his day to day life in Israel. During this time, Max falls in love with a non-Jewish American woman named Jennifer. The couple decides that they would like to continue their lives in Israel, but Jennifer does not qualify for Aliyah, as she is not Jewish.

Under Israeli law, a non-Jewish individual may obtain Israeli citizenship through a marriage visa. This is known as “the gradual process”, as the spouse does not obtain the right to absolute status of Israeli citizenship immediately. Typically, there’s a five-year wait, with a series of visas that must be approved along the way. During the evaluation process, the spouse is permitted to temporarily reside in the State of Israel. First a six-month work visa is issued, and after that an A-5 temporary residence visa which is valid for a year. Extensions are permitted as the spouse passes through the evaluation process. This requires being physically present in the state of Israel at the time, filled and signed request forms, and much more. After the evaluation is complete the spouse will begin a naturalization process, which generally takes around four years.

Due to Israeli family law, which follows religious tradition, Max and Jennifer were not permitted to legally marry in Israel. They had to travel to the Island of Cypress in order to validate their marriage. After all of the required documentation was submitted in order to complete this process, Max and Jennifer were called in for an interview, which began by the officer informing Max that his citizenship should have been revoked many years prior. The ministry then informed the couple that Jennifer is not eligible for her marriage visa anymore, as Max’s citizenship is under investigation.

Revoking Israeli citizenship

Section 11 of Israel Nationality Law and other Defenses

In 2011, Joshua Pex, of the Decker, Pex, Levi Immigration Law Firm began representing Max. Between the years of 2011 and 2021, the ministry would call Max in for a series of interviews, all of which Max gave the same response, admitting to his wrong-doing of falsifying the documentation needed to make Aliyah. The ministry continuously replied, after each interview, that Max’s citizenship would be revoked shortly, but this was not the case for more than ten years. Under section 11 of Israel Nationality law, if a citizen obtains citizenship status using false pretenses, the Minister is able to revoke the citizenship if it is done within three years. Max’s situation has dragged on for around thirty years by the time his appeal was presented to the District court. The defense noted that not only was the delay unconscionable, but during these 30 years, Israel became his only home. He no longer had family or friend relations in Russia, and he up his Russian citizenship when he made Aliyah. If Israel were to revoke his citizenship, Max would be left stateless – beyond the moral issue, Israel is a signatory to international conventions aimed at reducing statelessness in the world.

The Ministry of Interior argued for the right to annul Max’s citizens on the grounds of the State of Israel having the power to protect its borders by keeping liars and felons out of the nation. Basically, Max does not/has never qualified for Israeli citizenship, so there was not reason to grant it to him at this point in time. On the other hand, the defense argued that the individual has a right to due process of the law, which was disregarded as Max’s citizenship was not taken away over the past thirty years. The postponement created by the state’s lack of motivation and/or resources was at the root of this issue, which could possibly leave Max stateless. As no action was taken, Max was able to continuously work and live an Israeli lifestyle with no problems. Approaching the age of retirement, if Max’s citizenship was revoked, he would lose the benefits that other Israeli citizens obtain at this point of their life.

The appointed lawyers for the Ministry of Interior attempted to argue that MoI only recently was made aware of the falsification and that was why action was not taken sooner. The judge pointed out that the ministry must have known since 1992, as Max’s Israeli ID information was changed after the falsification of his documents was discovered. They were obviously fully aware that Max did not legally qualify for Aliyah, but avoided the issue for almost three decades. This is an extremely unique case that only applies to this particular scenario, and will/could not be used as the standard for Israeli immigration.

Outcome

Due to the defenses that were presented at court, the state decided to drop the case to avoid further implications. It is not common for the Ministry of Interior to grant citizenship to an individual who forged documentation for Aliyah, but because of the lack of due process and timeliness in this case, the court made a decision that recognized Max’s right to the life he built over the past three decades.

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