# Do you have to be a Jew to become a citizen in Israel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-to-be-a-jew-to-become-a-citizen-in-israel/209979 "2003-10-28T04:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hydrocortisone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Hydrocortisone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hydrocortisone)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-to-be-a-jew-to-become-a-citizen-in-israel/209979/1 "2003-10-28T04:29:29Z")
Do you have to be a Jew to become a citizen in Israel? ---
**Author:** ![Hydrocortisone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Hydrocortisone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hydrocortisone)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-to-be-a-jew-to-become-a-citizen-in-israel/209979/2 "2003-10-28T04:33:05Z")
Does Israel have a constitution? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-to-be-a-jew-to-become-a-citizen-in-israel/209979/3 "2003-10-28T04:52:38Z")
The answer to your first question is, no you don’t have to be a Jew to become an Israeli citizen, but it helps. Jews who immigrate to Israel get automatic citizenship, and non-Jews who immigrate have to apply for citizenship. The vast majority of Israels (about 80%) are nominally Jewish, but that leaves 20% who are not…and most of those who are not are either Muslim or Christian Arabs. Israel doesn’t have a single written constitution, but a number of “Basic Laws”, which set up how the government is structured and set out civil and natural rights for Israelis. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-to-be-a-jew-to-become-a-citizen-in-israel/209979/4 "2003-10-28T04:53:52Z")
No, you do not have to be a Jew to become an Israeli citizen. There are plenty of Muslim, Christian, atheist and miscellaneous citizens there. However, Jews are guaranteed the right to emigrate to Israel. Israel does not have a written constitution, as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-to-be-a-jew-to-become-a-citizen-in-israel/209979/5 "2003-10-28T11:52:59Z")
[This site from the Israeli government](http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00mz0) covers acquisition of Israeli nationality by any of the following: [quote] [ul][li]Birth [/li][li]The Law of Return [/li][li]Residence [/li][li]Naturalization[/ul][/li][/quote] [This site, also from the Israeli govenrment](http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0ff10) states: > [@](#): > > Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the protection of human rights has fallen to the judiciary, for Israel has no formal constitution or Bill of Rights. In 1948 it was decided to adopt a written constitution, and a Constituent Assembly was elected to implement this decision. However, internal political problems soon led to a decision to postpone the immediate adoption of a constitution. Instead, the constitution would be prepared by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, chapter by chapter in a series of “Basic Laws” which would eventually be brought together to form the constitution. Thus the Basic Laws, taken together, comprise a “constitution-in-the-making.” At present, the drafts of three additional basic laws are being circulated prior to their submission to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation: Draft Basic Law: Due Process Rights; Draft Basic Law: Social Rights; and Draft Basic Law: Freedom of Expression and Association. So, Israel does not now have a written constitution but will once the process described above is complete. Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-to-be-a-jew-to-become-a-citizen-in-israel/209979/6 "2003-10-28T13:19:23Z")
Does it count if I convert to Judaism? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-to-be-a-jew-to-become-a-citizen-in-israel/209979/7 "2003-10-28T14:10:47Z")
AFAIK, it depended on who conducted the conversion. I believe the previous state of affairs was that only conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis were recognized for the Law of Return. This appears to have changed. [http://www.adl.org/Israel/JerusalemJournal/JerusalemJournal-990126-1.asp](http://www.adl.org/Israel/JerusalemJournal/JerusalemJournal-990126-1.asp)