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After a two-and-a-half-year legal battle, Israel's Supreme Court has ruled that Messianic Jews should receive equal treatment under the law of return, granting them automatic citizenship just as Jews who do not believe Jesus is the Messiah. The case was brought by 12 applicants who had been denied citizenship primarily because they were Jewish believers in Jesus. Most of them had reportedly received letters saying they would not receive citizenship because they "commit missionary activity."
Calev Myers, chief counsel of The Jerusalem Institute of Justice said, "This is another win in our war to establish equality in Israel for the Messianic Jewish community. The bottom line is that if your father is Jewish or if any of your grandparents are Jewish from your father's side - even if you're a Messianic Jew - you can immigrate to Israel under the law of return or under the law of citizenship if you marry an Israeli citizen.
"It's really a huge ruling because the court apparently further ordered the Israeli Ministry of Interior to stop persecuting Jewish believers. Some within the Orthodox Jewish sector of society had taken positions in the Ministry of Interior and had been using their positions to revoke believers' citizenship, deny visas and generally harass not only Jewish believers in Jesus, but also Christian workers in Israel."
At least one of the 12 who were being denied citizenship had a Gentile mother and a Jewish father. Even in a situation like that, it's usually enough to be granted citizenship. What this court decision does is to basically say the same rules that apply to any other Jewish people would also apply to Jewish believers in Jesus."
Used by Permission Australian Prayer Network www.ausprayernet.org.au / Source: Baptist Press
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