(A7) The Religious Zionism, Shas, and United Torah Judaism parties are demanding in their coalition negotiations with Likud chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu that the Law of Return be modified to prevent non-halakhic Jews from using it to immigrate to Israel.

The demand is to remove the ‘grandfather clause,’ which allows anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent to move to Israel and receive immediate Israeli citizenship.

Under the Halakha, a person is only considered Jewish if they have a Jewish mother or if they undergo the conversion process. The ‘grandfather clause,thereby allows people who are non-Jews according to Halakha to take advantage of the Law of Return, a situation which the haredi parties and Orthodox Religious Zionism party wish to put a stop to.

A Likud official told Channel 13 News that this is a demand that could incite the wrath of the Jewish communities in the Diaspora, in particular in the United States and the countries of the former Soviet Union,many of whom have no connection whatsoever with Judaism except for one grandparent. If the clause is removed they would have to forego the automatic citizenship and financial benefits given to those who immigrate to israel under the Law of Return, meant for Jews to always have somewhere to flee after the world closed its doors to Jews in WWII.

The religious parties are also demanding the passage of the Override Clause which would allow the Knesset to re-pass laws struck down by the Supreme Court.

The United Torah Judaism party has many demands in the area of religion and state, including the passage of a new Draft Law which aligns with haredi sensibilities, the cancellation of many reforms passed by the previous government, and the passage of a conversion law which ensures that the authority on the issue will remain with the Chief Rabbinate.