Israel reportedly freezes immigration process for Jewish applicants involved in Palestinian rights activism 

Two Jewish activists who had been approved by the Jewish Agency for aliyah to Israel have had their approval frozen by the Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA), the Haaretz daily reports.

Although the agency, a department of the Interior Ministry, did not give a specific reason for revoking their aliyah approval, it appears that the revocation was due to their activism in “protective presence” activities in which civil rights groups provide assistance to Palestinian communities threatened by settler violence.

One of the aliyah candidates, Lawrence Shenkin from the UK, had spent five years in Israel after coming to the country to study in yeshiva at the age of 18, during which time he was active with the Bnei Avraham civil rights group in the West Bank.

Although the Jewish Agency told Shenkin, 23, that his application was approved in July this year, he was informed the following month that the approval was under review by PIBA.

A second activist, a 27-year-old American Jewish woman who was similarly active with protective presence groups, also initially received confirmation of her aliyah request from the Jewish Agency only to be subsequently informed that the approval had been frozen and the application was being reviewed by PIBA.

In both cases, communications from PIBA indicated that the freeze on their applications was due to the Palestinian rights activism.

PIBA says in response that the applications are still under review.

Bnei Avraham calls the suspension of Shenkin’s aliyah approval “a dangerous precedent,” adding, “The right of return cannot be made dependent on the political position of a Jew, or on the question of whose side he is on.”