The Chareidi parties are backing down from their demand to change or revoke the grandchild clause in the Law of Return in order to enter the coalition of Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu, Kan News reported on Monday.
The demand was met with fierce resistance by the Likud party, whose members are fearful that a change in the law will drive Russian Likud supporters to leave the party in favor of Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party.
Last week, the Chareidi parties put forward a proposal to not completely abolish the grandchild clause, a loophole that allows millions of non-Jews to gain Israeli citizenship, but to amend it to state that non-Jews with a Jewish grandparent will not automatically receive Israeli citizenship but will gain permanent residency status in the country.
However, the Likud party said that at most they would support the establishment of a committee after the government is formed to discuss the grandchild clause and its implications.
According to the report, the Chareidi MKs explained their concession on the issue by saying that due to their many other demands, first and foremost the army draft law, they could not insist on this issue as well.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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12 Responses
This is thee most important issue imho
It’s seems they are ONLY thinking short term. BIG MISTAKE!
These Hebrew speaking Goyim bring so many problems to the yiddish nation, that make all the other issues pale in comparison….
To exclude non-frum (e.g. Reform) Jews would be politically disastrous. Without the support of the non-frum Jews (many if not most of whom are goyim according to halacha, with the percentage increasing each generation), the US would probably be neutral in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and would be unwilling to well arms or share technology or intelligence with Israel. Even within Israel, persons of Jewish descent, but in no way halachally, culturally or religiously Jewish, dominate the Israeli economy and many aspects of Israeli life.
In choosing to support the zionists (against the advice of the Chareidi Rabbanim), the religious Jews of Eretz Yisrael set them up for the situation in which secular persons of partial Jewish descent, but with a totally non-Jewish weltanschauung, would dominate. Even 100 years ago this was clear (at least to the gedolim of the day), and by now it should be clear to everyone.
Let’s not forget to keep dovening for Yvette Leiberman in the 19th brocha.
sorry for that, its the most important for the future of yiddishkeit
too bad that litvak, poliah gerrer rebbi gafni thinks differently
what they did makes a lot of sense.
they shall return to this issue at a later date.
(hopefully when even more frum MKs are elected in the near future)
the biggest antisemites are often the gentiles with a jewish grandparent. this is a terrible mistake. i hope it gets fixed soon
Sad, but no surprise.
Joining a government who’s states founding purpose is to wipe out yiddishkeit (as Reb Chaim Soloveitchik ztzk”l said, they don’t shmad to make a state, they want a state so they can shmad), and then naively thinking they can fight the most yesoiesdik enemy by joining them (explain that), what do you want, they will obviously have to give up. Just look how far things have come today from when the Agudah was in the times of the holy Chafetz Chaim (who himself had to fight the politicians within already then, personally testifying to his grandson the reason for his death being that he had to shlep to Warsaw to protest the agudah convention they didn’t invite him to but he happened to find out about, one down for agudah being headed by gedoilim).
If you make a timeline from then until today, you’ll find so many concession, bluffs, lies, crooked handlings all to name but a few tactics that the agudah politicians used in order to ‘fight’ zionism and sub-consequently the state of ‘israel’.
this is a replay that the government makes every time:
1) play some excuse for un-relentless attitudes on yiddishkeit.
2) when you see the agudah will relent on some point in order to be able to be part of the coalition (aka curry favor and suck up to wicked Amalekites),
then,
3) Just give in to them for this point. this system will guarantee them giving in to you bit by bit, every time ebbing another bit of torah values until you’ll finish the job off.
just look how hppy they are. nobody asks why? they really all of a sudden love religious Jews, huh? don’t try playing their game on them, they’re better at it than any religious guy. just be jewish- that they can’t fight against.
In the end all these zionists rats will burn and then moshiach will come!
Without the support of the non-frum Jews the US would probably be neutral in the Arab-Israeli conflict,
Come on, akuperma, you know that is utter nonsense. US support for Israel has nothing whatsoever to do with Jews, let alone Reform Jews. Even if all the Jews became anti-zionist, US policy to Israel would not change one bit, because it never had anything to do with that. Jews are simply not a factor in US policy; they are too few, and in any case non-frum Jews are certain to vote Democrat no matter what.
US policy on Israel is driven by the influence of Evangelical Christians, who are many and are not sold to the GOP, and who in the 1970s, under the influence of preachers such as Jerry Falwell, became heavily philosemitic. Changing the Law of Return won’t change that.
But getting rid of the grandfather clause is not the most important change needed. Yes, hordes of goyim are immigrating as citizens, but at least they are not being classified as Jews. The real problem is the goyim who are being officially recognized as Jews, i.e. the non-halachic conversions. This is the State of Israel openly declaring that it rejects the Torah and that as far as it’s concerned Reform is a genuine form of Judaism. That is a clear case of כתבו לכם על קרן השור אין לי חלק באלקי ישראל, and it is the highest priority that it must be changed, by adding one word to the law: the phrase או שנתגייר must be amended to או שנתגייר כהלכה.
Milhouse, I agree with you. However, by simply adding the word כהלכה, doesn’t it open the debate of who defines הלכה? The Reform claim that הלכה evolves with time and is subject to change (-and like every good lie, this argument has a bit of truth to it, although they grossly abuse this). They also claim לא בשמים היא and the “rabbinate” can alter the halacha (again, this has “some” truth, but is misused). Therefore, simply adding כהלכה without defining it (as שולחן ערוך), is in my opinion inadequate.
Further, adding כהלכה does not address the grandchild clause!
That clause allows anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent to immigrate freely to Israel so long as they do not practice another religion.
This includes those that has no giyur at all, as long as they had a Jewish grandfather, even if he married a shikza, and she in turn married a shaygetz, the grandchild is eligible because of his Jewish blood of his grandfather.
As such, they already do not comply with adding the requirement of או שנתגייר (halachicly or otherwise). Adding כהלכה will not address THIS issue!
doesnt it matter as the chareidim dont marry with this crowd, many the chiloni who eats pork on Yom Kippur will now go to Cyprus to marry a shiksa assuming these chilonim even get married.
Rebbetzin, Reform don’t even pretend to follow halacha. They explicitly reject the whole concept that there is a binding halacha; the whole Torah is optional, so adding כהלכה would automatically exclude their conversions.
Conservative do claim to follow halacha, as amended by each generation, so they could try arguing that their conversions would still be acceptable. But courts take legislative history into account in interpreting statutes, and the legislative history of this measure would weigh heavily against this argument. The word was taken out specifically in order to allow non-halachic conversions; therefore adding it back must mean a recission of that decision. Further, the very fact that for fifty years they fought tooth and nail against this amendment constitutes an acknowledgment that it would exclude their conversions.
But even if a court did allow their conversions, the main damage would still have been repaired. The main damage is not the tiny number of such converts who take advantage of this law, it’s the fact that the Knesset, by removing that word, declared its rejection of Hashem and His Torah. כתבו לכם על קרן השור . That massive chilul haShem must be repaired. It’s been fifty years of struggle, but now there is finally a chance to do it, so it must be done.
The grandfather clause is a separate problem, and not such a bad one. Sure, goyim are coming in, but at least they are not being recognized as Jews. They are openly goyim, they don’t pretend to be anything else, so if the state of Israel says they can be citizens, why not? There are already so many goyishe citizens, why not a few more? They’re now coming in such numbers that something should be done, but if it isn’t it isn’t. They’re not harming klal yisrael simply by becoming citizens. If some concession must be made, let that be it.
The Reform conversions are being admitted AS JEWS; besides the massive chilul haShem this constitutes, there’s also the practical problem that they will marry Jews, including frum Jews. Their children will do “teshuva” and go to yeshivos and the grandchildren will marry into the best families, and nobody will know.