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July 4, 2003/Tamuz 4 5763, Vol. 55, No. 45
Citizen proposal praised
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - For the first time in the history of the Jewish state, there is a good chance that those who convert to Judaism in Israel through the Reform and Conservative movements will receive automatic Israeli citizenship.
"I will inform the High Court of Justice that I will register every convert who wishes to do so as an Israeli citizen - regardless of whether his conversion took place in Israel or abroad, or whether it was an Orthodox or non-Orthodox conversion," Israel's interior minister, Avraham Poraz, told JTA.
Representatives of the liberal movements in the United States praise the possible change as a major step toward religious pluralism in Israel - while Orthodox leaders view it as one that would undermine the character of the Jewish state.
The statement by Poraz, a member of the secular Shinui Party, comes as Israel's high court is slated to hand down a ruling soon in the case of an appeal by 18 Reform converts against previous interior ministers' refusals to grant them Israeli citi-zenship.
In recent governments, interior ministers - who often belonged to the fervently Orthodox Shas Party - refused to register non-Orthodox converts who had converted in Israel, arguing that only Orthodox conversions supervised by the Chief Rabbinate should be legitimate in the Jewish state. However, they did recognize conversions per-formed overseas.
When he was appointed earlier this year, many expected Poraz to change the policy - though until this week it seemed he had other plans.
Poraz originally said he wanted to separate the issue of conversions from citi-zenship, making citizenship decisions based on the applicant's "contribution to society and identification with the Zionist movement, or on humanitarian grounds."
That meant he wouldn't grant automatic citizenship even to people who had undergone Orthodox con-versions in Israel - but he would consider granting citizenship to non-Jews who had made significant contributions to Israeli life.
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