Law of Return (Yisrael)
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The Law of Return, also referred to as Aliya, is a constitutional right guaranteed in Article I, Section 1 of the Royal Yisraeli Constitution that gives every halachic Jew the right of return and the right to live in Yisrael and to gain Yisraeli citizenship.
Since the 1970s amid Sydalene Christian terrorism, there have been debates to amend the act to extend the law to people with one Jewish grandparent or people married to a Jew, although they were not considered Jewish under Jewish law.
Background
Before the 1919 Revolution, the national principles of Yisrael were simply political conventions that may or may not have been enforced by the will the absolute monarch. With the victory of the Constitutional Liberals over the royalists, these principles were to be expressly enumerated in a written constitutional to ensure their permanency regardless of who sat on the throne.
Among the largely uncontested national principles was the belief that every halachic Jew worldwide had a right to live, visit, and become a citizen of Yisrael as the nation represented and was situated on the ancestral Jewish homeland.
Constitutional placement
So central was this national principle that the Drafters unanimously agreed to reference it in the Preface and first article of the Constitution.
Overview of provisions
- Every foreign halachic Jew eligible for the right of return to Yisrael.
- Every foreign halachic Jew afforded the right to live in Yisrael.
- Every foreign halachic Jew eligible for Yisraeli citizenship.