If a Palestinian converts to Judaism, can they get Israeli citizenship?

Question

If a Palestinian convert to Judaism or even better to the religion of prophet Abraham, can they get Israeli citizenship ?

The Quran does instruct Muslims to follow the religion of Ibrāhīm (Abraham) (which muslims consider to be Islamic Monotheism; the creed of Ibrāhīm is the most primordial precursor to Islam and is mentioned in the Quran in various places - 2:130, 3:95, 4:125, 6:161 and 16:123). E.g:

"Say: "Allah speaketh the Truth: follow the religion of Abraham, the sane in faith; he was not of the Pagans."" (translation by A. Yusuf Ali, Quran 3:95)

Some Jewish scholar however interpret such Quranic verses as an exhortation to muslims to adopt Judaism. Since some Jews are open to the idea of muslims converting to Judaism, if every Palestinian muslim were to "return" to the religion of Abraham, they should be automatically be eligible to be a Israeli citizen and thus the current crisis in the holy land can be solved peacefully.

Answer 1

There is an example of a Palestinian who did this. After being rejected by several rabbis, his request was accepted by the Meir Institute, a prominent Religious Zionist shul, and he was permitted to study there and convert, receiving the name David Ben Avraham.

In March 2024, while traveling to shul, Avraham was stopped on the street by an IDF soldier, who asked him for his name. He gave the soldier his Jewish name, and the soldier laughed at him and told him to put his hands up. When he did so, he was shot dead on the spot. The IDF has refused to release the name of the soldier, but it was learned that he does not speak fluent Hebrew and requested for trial proceedings in English.

As the other answers correctly state, his conversion was not accepted by the national Conversion Authority. However, after his death, he was given permission to reside in Israel. He was buried in the Religious Zionist settlement of Har Brakha.

Answer 2

Israel has a unique "return" law that grants every Jew in the world the conditional right to become Israeli citizens. However, conversion in the state of Israel is governed by the Conversion Authority. That authority does not consider applications from Palestinians who have converted to Judaism:

Palestinian requests for conversion rejected outright, official says

Rabbi heading government’s Conversion Authority says any such applications are thrown out without even being considered

Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, director of the Israeli government’s Conversion Authority, spoke about his organization’s handling of requests by Palestinians to convert on Tuesday during a discussion on conversions at the State Control Committee of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, the news site nrg reported.

So the answer to your question is no. Note that it is not sufficient for the presumptive Palestinian to "become Jewish" they must also "become Jewish" as defined by the Israeli state for the purpose of immigration.

Answer 3

Theoretically, yes. A Palestinian (or any permanent resident of Israel) who goes through the conversion process would be eligible to become a citizen if they weren't already.

That said, for all practical purposes, this isn't feasible or realistic. First of all, it's very possible for a Muslim, Christian, Druze, or other minority to be a citizen of Israel, so there's no specific need to convert. Secondly, actually converting in a way which would be recognized by Israeli courts is a long process that involves a year of study and the whole family actually living a Jewish lifestyle to the satisfaction of a rabbinic judge.

Finally, after converting, the newly Jewish citizen would now be conscripted into military service if they were of the right age and gender (unless they were Druze, in which case they were already subject to conscription). That could mean being required to take action against other other Palestinians or neighboring Arab countries, regardless of their personal feelings on the matter.

So while this is a thing that happens, it's very rare and definitely not something that would be reasonable to expect to happen en masse. People's cultural identity is an intrinsic part of who they are, and most people would strongly object to having to make major changes to it.

Answer 4

Conversion for any other reason than sincere desire to become a Jewish servant of G-D, i.e. material gain or any grand political plan, is prohibited according to Orthodox Jewish law (See Maimonides, Kedusha, Isurai Bi'ah Chapter 13). When a non-Jew askes to be converted, the rabbinical court must investigate to exclude any possibility of material intentions, like marriage and money etc.

According to Maimonides, during the times of king Solomon, which was a great era for the Jewish people in terms of politics and wealth, the grand rabbinical court in Jerusalem refrained from converting any people. Suspecting that the proposed converts are doing so in order to become part of a more successful society.

In order to exclude the possibility of having people converted to Judaism for the sake of obtaining Israeli citizenship, and in line with the Orthodox Jewish tradition, the Israeli chief rabbinate can only convert people who have "already" obtained Israeli citizenship or permanent residence. All others, must receive permission from a special committee. A broad spectrum of people will be automatically declined by the committee, "an illegal alien, people living in the region, legal foreign workers with a B1 visa, legal tourists with a visa of less than 1 year" - It's nothing related to "ethnic discrimination". If a rich white American, working in Israel legally, will wish to convert to Judaism at Israel's chief rabbinate. He will also be declined for the same reason. As chances are high that he just wants Israeli citizenship for business matters.

Answer 5

The interpretation of the verse in OP is incomplete.

Quran also says that if a new messenger comes, the teachings of past messengers become null and void. This is supported by several verses in the Quran, emphasizing that Islam is the final and complete religion that supersedes previous scriptures.

One key verse often cited in this context is:

Surah Al-Imran (3:85):

"And whoever desires other than Islam as religion — never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers."

This verse indicates that after the final revelation through Prophet Muhammad, Allah only accepts Islam as the valid path to His pleasure and salvation, nullifying the previous laws and scriptures.

Additionally, another relevant verse is:

Surah Al-Baqarah (2:106):

"We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allah is over all things competent?"

This verse discusses the concept of abrogation (Naskh), where earlier rulings or scriptures can be replaced by newer guidance provided in the Quran, which is considered more suitable for the current time and circumstances.

Together, these verses form the basis of the belief that the Quran, as the final revelation, supersedes previous scriptures and that Islam is now the only accepted religion by Allah.

---

Regarding the Israeli citizenship

Israeli citizenship laws are primarily governed by the Law of Return (1950), which grants Jews the right to immigrate to Israel and obtain citizenship. According to the Law, anyone who is Jewish or has converted to Judaism under recognized religious authorities can apply for citizenship. However, the situation for Palestinians, particularly those living in the West Bank, Gaza, or with ties to the Palestinian territories, is complicated by security concerns, historical conflict, and other political factors.

While in theory, a Palestinian who undergoes a recognized conversion to Judaism may be eligible to apply for citizenship under the Law of Return, the process may be scrutinized more closely due to security and political concerns.

Answer 6

As stated, you do not need to convert to Judaism to become an Israeli citizen.

The question then becomes "can someone with status as a Palestinian become an Israeli citizen?". There is no reason why they couldn't, unless maybe they are known members of terrorist groups like Hezbollah or Hamas in which case they would likely not even be allowed to travel to Israel in order to apply for citizenship (for obvious reasons). This would be no different from anyone else who is a known member of an organised crime syndicate not being able to enter a country.

Of course there will likely be extreme social pressure from their Palestinian peers to not try to gain Israeli citizenship, as their entire social structure is built on what basically amounts to denial that Israel even exists. All Palestinian groups have the destruction of Israel at the core of their founding documents after all. Whether everyone living under those groups actually actively wants this still is of course debatable, but peer pressure and propaganda are very powerful tools to instill sentiment in people (any people, any sentiment, in this the PLO/Fatah in Judea and Samaria would not be any less effective than the Russian government with their campaigns in eastern Ukraine, to give just one example. But that's not a legal hurdle that would prevent the application in itself, even though the safety of the person after successful application is doubtful (fatwas have been ordered against people for less).