High Court rejects petition by overseas Israeli families to admit their children
But parents of unregistered kids born abroad can either register them with the state more easily, or have them enter Israel as foreign tourists
Carrie Keller-Lynn is a former political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel
The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected a petition by thirty-six Israeli families abroad who — because they never registered their children with the state and lack Israeli passports for them — claim their kids have been unable to enter Israel due to more stringent border enforcement amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Israeli law requires all citizens to register children born abroad with the state within 30 days of birth. It further requires all citizens to enter the country on Israeli passports, although in practice, families like the petitioners routinely brought their children to Israel as tourists on foreign passports. This practice was curtailed in March 2020, when Israel first closed its borders to people without an Israeli passport because of coronavirus.
The petitioners claimed the 1952 Nationality Law automatically confers citizenship upon children of Israelis, whether or not known to the state, and that they should thus be admitted to the country like other citizens even if they don’t have Israeli passports.
The state, by contrast, argued to the court that Israelis must register their children in order to enjoy the benefits of citizenship.
Justice Isaac Amit noted that while the families are correct that their children are sufficiently Israeli for citizenship, the Interior Minister has the legal power to determine proof of citizenship, and that the proof it requires is registration with the Population and Immigration Authority.
Amit explained that the court rejected the families’ petition because the state has recently changed two policies to help Israelis register their children to enter Israel, obviating the court’s need to intervene. In May 2021, unregistered children of overseas Israelis were given a one-time waiver to enter the country on a foreign passport, provided their parents promised to complete registration within 60 days upon returning home. This measure was extended to the end of 2021, following a previous hearing in the case.
Related: Israeli children born abroad are automatically citizens, yet some are locked out
Then, on Wednesday, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced a relaxation of policy regarding birth registration requirements with the Population and Immigration Authority. The agency will not require “proof of pregnancy” medical records from families living abroad, but rather a signed statement attesting to parentage. While this does reduce the burden for some families, it only applies to families in which both parents are Israeli citizens, and who have lived abroad for five years. It also does not eliminate other requirements for proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate and proving a relationship between parents.
Yair Zaslavsky, one of the 36 families behind the rejected petition, lives in Maple Valley, Washington, with his family. His youngest daughter was born in Melbourne, Australia, and Zaslavsky has struggled to obtain an official copy of his daughter’s birth certificate. He says the state’s solution is insufficient for his family, because even after months of assembling documents, he does not feel confident he can complete the registration process within the timeline required.
“I will not sign a letter if I cannot commit to a process. I know many did. Does Israel want us to lie?” Zaslavksy said.
The state declared in its answer to the petitioners that it would also review applications of families who have “objective” reasons for not being able to register their children. The state clarified that choosing not to register is not considered an objective reason.
Batya Sachs, the lawyer who along with Gilad Itzhak Bar-Tal represented the families, said the petition had helped highlight the issue but its rejection meant the matter was not fully solved.
“Although we hoped for a more — a solution to allow all children to enter the country — the petition succeeded in bringing to Minister Shaked’s desk the importance of finding solutions for the thousands of children born overseas, and she has already made adjustments in a partial solution for those families where both parents are Israeli, who can now easily register their children and get Israeli passports.”
The state also said it would not prevent families’ unregistered children from entering Israel during periods open to tourism, provided the children adhered to all vaccination requirements relevant to tourists.
But given the myriad and often unpredictable COVID-related border closures — including the recent decision to bar foreign nationals amid fears of the Omicron variant — families want to have their children’s right to visit Israel be guaranteed as with registered citizens, Sachs indicated. The families are therefore pledging to continue to push for more changes.
“We knew from the start that this is just the beginning of the road,” said Sachs. “We will study the court’s decision to decide what steps can be taken to find ways to continue our struggle, in order to find an overall solution to enable all Israelis born overseas to enter the country.”
