Smotrich doubles down on bid to amend Law of Return

Less than a day after Opposition Leader and Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu publicly downplayed the possibility Israel could amend its Law of Return, the Religious Zionist Party vowed it will continue to press for the removal of the “grandfather clause” from the law.

Passed in 1950, the Law of Return guarantees the legal right of members of recognized Jewish communities to immigrate to Israel and receive citizenship.

In 1970, Israel broadened the law, adding what has come to be known as the “grandfather clause,” enabling would-be immigrants with at least one Jewish grandparent, as well as the spouses of Jews, to claim Israeli citizenship.

While the number of non-Jews claiming Israeli citizenship under the grandfather clause was small in the 1970s and 1980s, it rose significantly during the wave of immigration from Eastern Europe in the 1990s and early 2000s.

All five of the Likud’s allied factions on the Right – including the Religious Zionist Party, Otzma Yehudit, Noam, Shas, and United Torah Judaism – have endorsed plans to amend the Law of Return and remove the grandfather clause. READ MORE