High Court rules to naturalize children of convert to Judaism who hid their births

Eliezer Clement of the Hebrew Israelites community left his family in Dimona to convert in the US and then applied for their citizenship

Cnaan Lidor is The Times of Israel's Jewish World reporter

Supreme Court Justice Uzi Vogelman at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, before the start of a hearing against the Child Adoption Law, on August 2, 2023 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Supreme Court Justice Uzi Vogelman at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, before the start of a hearing against the Child Adoption Law, on August 2, 2023 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice has ruled in favor of an appellant seeking the naturalization of children who were born to him before he converted to Judaism, and whose births he kept hidden from the authorities for years.

The justices issued a ruling on Sunday on an appeal by Eliezer Clement, from the Hebrew Israelites Community of Dimona, to a 2019 ruling by the Beersheba District Court.

The lower court had rejected Clement’s petition to have the state naturalize under the Law of Return seven of his 11 children. Those seven children were born before his conversion to Judaism in 2005 in his native United States and subsequent naturalization in Israel.

The Law of Return applies to Jews, their spouses, children and grandchildren. Clement’s naturalization in 2006 under the Law of Return served as the basis for the naturalization of his wife. However, the status of his seven children born before 2006 has proven to be a more complex issue, further complicated by the fact that Clement and his wife had for years hidden from the authorities the fact that some of his children were even born.

Justice Ruth Ronnen, who ruled in favor of the appeal along with Justice Uzi Vogelman, said that the Clements’ failure to report the home births of three of their children is irrelevant to the appeal. The lower court noted this fact in declining the naturalization application. Ronnen also disputed the relevance of the timing of a parent’s conversion to the eligibility of their children to be naturalized under the Law of Return.

Clement and his wife had entered Israel with four children more than 20 years ago as tourists, staying for years without a visa. They had three more children in Israel without reporting their births. They had five additional children in Israel whose births were reported to authorities. One of those children has since died.

Sometime before 2005, Eliezer Clement left for the United States and underwent a conversion to Judaism there, and subsequently applied to immigrate as a Jew under the Law of Return, Haaretz reported. He lied during his immigration process, saying he was unmarried and childless.

Justice Alex Stein, in his minority ruling, insisted that whereas the children may apply to be naturalized under other provisions, the one under the Law of Return does not apply to them.

“The law is the law, even when it means we’re unable to bring the human story before us to a happy ending,” he wrote.

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