SUPREME COURT BROADENS ACCEPTABLE CONVERSIONS FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 002265

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2015
TAGS: KIRF PGOV PHUM SOCI IS ISRAELI SOCIETY GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: SUPREME COURT BROADENS ACCEPTABLE CONVERSIONS FOR
CITIZENSHIP PURPOSES; ORTHODOX REJECT RULING

Classified By: Political Counselor Norman Olsen for reasons 1.4 b,d


1. (C) Summary: The Supreme Court further chipped away at
the Orthodox rabbinate's monopoly over conversions to Judaism
in its March 31 ruling that the GOI must recognize the
non-Orthodox conversions of 15 non-citizen legal residents of
Israel that were begun in Israel but formalized abroad, and
grant the 15 converts Israeli citizenship. An Interior
Ministry advisor told poloff April 12 that the court ruling
will require the GOI to henceforth recognize conversions that
are begun in Israel and completed abroad for the purpose of
conferring citizenship and that the Interior and Justice
ministries are working on implementing regulations. Reform
movement attorney Rabbi Uri Regev noted that there was
"nothing earthshaking about the decision" since the court did
not address the broader issue of whether the GOI must
recognize non-Orthodox conversions performed wholly in
Israel. He noted that the Knesset's continuing failure to
legislate on which conversions are legitimate for the
purposes of immigration has forced a string of Supreme Court
decisions that still leave open the ultimate question: should
the Orthodox rabbinate have exclusive control over
conversions conducted entirely within Israel. Regev said
that his organization is already preparing a case for the
Supreme Court to put this issue to rest.


2. (C) Summary cont'd: The court's decision was praised by
the reform and conservative Jewish communities as well as by
Interior Minister Ophir Pines, who said he would begin
preparations to implement the ruling to cover all conversions
completed abroad regardless of whether preparations took
place in Israel. The Orthodox rabbinate rejected the
decision, and religious party Knesset members at a
poorly-attended special Knesset session April 6 called for
legislation to circumvent the ruling. Two religious parties
in the coalition are demanding that Prime Minister Sharon
reject the ruling. End summary.

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Israeli Residents Undergoing Non-Orthodox
Conversions Abroad Entitled to Citizenship
--------------


3. (U) The Supreme Court ruled March 31 that persons
resident in but not citizens of Israel who undergo
non-Orthodox (reform or conservative) conversions begun in
Israel but formalized in Jewish communities abroad, are
entitled to become Israeli citizens pursuant to Israel's Law
of Return. The original 1950 Law of Return afforded
immigration rights to all Jews, but did not define who is a
Jew. A 1970 amendment defined a Jew as being "any person
born of a Jewish mother or who has converted to Judaism." It
did not, however, indicate what types of conversions are
acceptable. (Note: The 1970 amendment also vested
immigration rights -- but not status as a Jew for all
purposes, civil and religious -- in "a child and a grandchild
of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew
and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew, except for a person
who has been a Jew and has voluntarily changed his religion."
End note.)


4. (SBU) Rabbi Uri Regev, an attorney with the Israel
Religious Action Center (IRAC),which represented the 15
petitioners in this case, told poloff April 6 that the
petitioners are all legal residents but not citizens of
Israel who each had undergone in Israel "an intensive course
of study and active involvement in Jewish life" pursuant to
reform or conservative Jewish conversion procedures that
lasted about one year. The petitioners had each then
traveled abroad for various lengths of time (some for only a
day or so) to undergo the actual conversions in reform or
conservative communities. Each conversion required answering
a serious of questions posed by either a reform or
conservative rabbi, respectively. All of the arrangements
were made by the petitioners' reform or conservative
communities, respectively, in Israel. Upon satisfactorily
responding to the rabbis' questions, the petitioners received
formal reform or conservative certificates and returned to
Israel.


5. (SBU) In its ruling, the court rejected the GOI's
argument that these conversions are actually conversions
conducted in Israel, Regev explained, noting that the actual
conversion -- not the conversion preparation -- took place
abroad. Accordingly, the court determined that these
conversions met the terms of its 1989 decision that required
the GOI to recognize reform and conservative conversions
performed abroad for the purposes of immigration and
citizenship. Regev said the court also rejected the GOI's
requirement that converts live in the converting Jewish
community abroad for a year before being entitled to
immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return. Regev said that
in the March 31 decision, the court did not establish
criteria for overseas conversions, or address the length of
time a person must remain overseas for the conversion. The
court did state, however, that the converting community
abroad should be part of a recognized mainstream Jewish
community -- orthodox, conservative, or reform, Regev noted.
He added that in its decision, the court advised the Knesset
to legislate guidelines for determining the legitimacy of
communities to avoid fraudulent conversions.

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Numbers Affected Unknown
--------------


6. (C) Regev could not estimate how many people would take
advantage of the March 31 ruling. Interior Minister advisor
Sharon Rosenberg, however, estimated to poloff April 7 that
"quite a few people" would take advantage of the ruling.
Regev downplayed the Orthodox Jewish establishment's concern
that the ruling would facilitate mass conversions of
non-Jewish temporary residents of Israel, such as foreign
workers, who could then seek citizenship rights. The reform
and conservative communities, Regev asserted, would not allow
for fraudulent conversions. Regev noted that in this case,
the GOI did not claim that the petitioners' conversions were
fraudulent. He also highlighted as a check on possible abuse
the court's recommendation that the Knesset develop
guidelines to determine whether the Jewish communities abroad
that perform the actual conversions are legitimate
"mainstream" Jewish communities. Some form of regulatory
framework would prevent abuse of the ruling by individuals
who are not serious about converting to Judaism, Regev added.


7. (C) Despite Interior Minister Pines' public announcement
that he supports the court ruling and would implement it,
both for the 15 petitioners and more broadly, Regev expressed
skepticism that the ruling would be implemented quickly,
given the political controversy surrounding this issue.
Interior Ministry attorney-advisor Malka Kogan (protect) told
poloff April 12 that the MOI and the Ministry of Justice will
together work on implementing regulations, and noted that all
applicants who converted in processes like those used by the
15 petitioners would still need to apply and qualify
individually for immigration rights and citizenship pursuant
to the Law of Return. Therefore, while the MOI would follow
the court's conversion ruling, it would apply that ruling on
a case-by-case basis, she explained.

--------------
Court Continues to Fill Legislative Gap
--------------


8. (C) Regev highlighted that the Supreme Court's March 31
ruling is the latest in a string of rulings that have
whittled away at the GOI's position that the Chief Orthodox
Rabbinate should remain the sole authority on conversions.
Regev explained, however, that none of the rulings, including
that of March 31, have decided the issue of whether the GOI
must recognize non-Orthodox conversions performed entirely in
Israel. Regev explained that in a 1995 ruling, the Supreme
Court determined that a British mandate-era conversion
ordinance giving sole authority over conversions to the Chief
Orthodox Rabbinate applied only in cases of personal status
such as marriage and divorce, and not with regard to civil
status cases such as citizenship. The 1995 ruling stated
that only the Knesset could legislate what sort of
conversions are valid for citizenship and registration
purposes, Regev said.


9. (C) In the 1995 ruling, the court did not recognize
Israeli reform and conservative conversions, but rather,
according to Regev, performed "acrobatics" in declaring what
the GOI cannot do. He noted that IRAC is already preparing a
petition to compel the Supreme Court to rule whether the GOI
must recognize for citizenship purposes reform and
conservative conversions conducted and completed entirely in
Israel.

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Orthodox Afraid of Easy Conversions
--------------


10. (SBU) The Orthodox Jewish establishment has uniformly
rejected the Supreme Court's decision to legitimize what the
Orthodox refer to as "leaping conversions." (The term
derives from the Orthodox depiction of a process in which
non-Jewish residents in Israel can pursue reform or
conservative conversion programs in Israel and then "leap" to
another country merely to obtain a conversion certificate.)
Ultra-Orthodox Shas party leader Eli Yishai termed the
decision an "explosives belt that has brought about a suicide
attack against the Jewish people." Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi
Yona Metzger also rejected the ruling, saying that "it is
hard for us to recognize those who turned into Jews in a
leap, just as it is difficult to recognize a doctor who
became a doctor in just one day."


11. (C) Shas MK Yitzhak Cohen complained to poloff April 6
that the court ruling will allow non-Jewish Israeli residents
to convert simply by flying to Cyprus and securing a
conversion certificate. (Note: Cohen mentioned Cyprus
because many Israelis already go there for civil marriages.
Some 300,000 of the one million people who immigrated from
the former Soviet republics in the 1990s, for example, are
not considered Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate, although
they lawfully immigrated to Israel and received Israeli
citizenship, many as dependents of immigrating Jews, under
the Law of Return. They therefore cannot be married,
divorced, or buried pursuant to Jewish religious law, which
governs those functions for all Jewish citizens of Israel.
Many fly to nearby Cyprus to get married in civil ceremonies,
which the GOI recognizes only if conducted outside of Israel.
End Note.) Cohen asserted that only the Orthodox
establishment should have control over conversions. Hasidic
MKs Moshe Gafni of the Degel Hatorah party and Meir Porush of
the Agudat Israel party are reportedly demanding that the GOI
refuse to implement the court's ruling and that it support
legislation that prevents the Supreme Court from ruling on
matters of Jewish religious law. They are said to base the
demand on the agreement under which their parties joined the
Sharon government, and in which they claim Sharon promises to
honor the status quo arrangement with regard to religious
matters.


12. (C) IRAC attorney Kariv asserted that most Israelis
today are "fed up" with the Orthodox monopoly over Judaism,
and that they want to "express their identity in many ways."
He speculated that it would be hard for the Orthodox
community and its Knesset representatives to secure
legislation that would vest full control over all conversions
conducted in Israel in the Chief Orthodox Rabbinate. The
Shas party called a special Knesset session April 6 to debate
the ruling, but only some 20 of the 120 MKs reportedly showed
up for the session. Comment: The Knesset is unlikely to take
up this matter further until it returns from recess on May

16.

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