Interior Minister Roni Bar-On also said that he knew nothing of Amar’s proposal.
“Over the last 10 years the concept of conversion has lost its religious meaning,” the proposal reads. “It has become instead a means of immigration through which non-Jews seek automatic Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return without any intention of becoming a part of the Jewish people.
“This draft legislation proposes that conversions – Orthodox, Conservative or Reform – will no longer give the convert an automatic right to citizenship. Rather, the convert will be allowed to naturalize in accordance with objective criteria of citizenship.”
According to sources close to the Justice Ministry, both Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz and the deputy attorney-general for legislation, Yehoshua Schoffman, oppose the proposed legislation. They reportedly are critical of the fact that converts who converted years ago for purely religious reasons would also be denied citizenship.
However, other leading legal figures welcomed the proposal because it would separate religious conversion from citizenship, a decidedly secular concept.
According to the same sources, leading figures in the Prime Minister’s Office also support the proposal.
Rabbi and attorney Gilad Kariv of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center said Rabbi Amar’s proposal was “baseless and anti-Jewish.”
The Amar proposal also offends many American Jewish leaders, who have taken issue with Israel’s rabbinical establishment and its efforts to stymie non-Orthodox Judaism.
MK Avraham Ravitz (United Torah Judaism) said he had not discussed the bill with Amar but that he was skeptical it would prevent Reform and Conservative converts from acquiring citizenship.
MK Zevulun Orlev (NRP-National Union) voiced support for the proposal.
A Shas spokesman declined to comment on the issue.
The Chief Rabbinate presented the draft legislation ahead of a pivotal High Court of Justice ruling on Reform and Conservative conversions performed in Israel. The court has been asked to decide whether these conversions will provide eligibility for citizenship.
Reform and Conservative conversions performed abroad have been recognized by the state since 1989.
Shimon Ya’acobi, legal adviser to the Rabbinic Court system and a driving force behind the proposed legislation, said converts, non-Jews, foreign workers and others seeking Israeli citizenship should be allowed to do so under non-religious legislation. This, he said, would prevent them from using non-Orthodox conversions for economic and other purposes. (JPFS)
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