Bernie Sanders and Israel's Law of Return

Bernie Sanders and Israel’s Law of Return

From Ken Adachi, Editor

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/Bernie-Sanders-and-Israels-Law-of-Return11jun15.shtml#top

June 11, 2015

Bernie Sanders and Israel’s Law of Return (June 11, 2015)

Bernie Sanders made a big show of denying he was an Israeli dual citizen in an interview with NPR’s Diane Rehm on June 10. Rather than ask him if he is a dual citizen, she stated it as a fact. Here’s the conversation as reported by Jared Sichel in the Jewish Journal:

Diane Rehm: Senator, you have dual citizenship with Israel.

Bernie Sanders: Well, no I do not have dual citizenship with Israel. I’m an American. I don’t know where that question came from. I am an American citizen, and I have visited Israel on a couple of occasions. No, I’m an American citizen, period.

Rehm: I understand from a list we have gotten that you were on that list.

Sanders: No.

Rehm: Forgive me if that is—

Sanders: That’s some of the nonsense that goes on in the internet. But that is absolutely not true.

Rehm: Interesting. Are there members of Congress who do have dual citizenship or is that part of the fable?

Sanders: I honestly don’t know but I have read that on the internet. You know, my dad came to this country from Poland at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket. He loved this country. I am, you know, I got offended a little bit by that comment, and I know it’s been on the internet. I am obviously an American citizen and I do not have any dual citizenship.

Sichel’s article went on to characterize the internet list of American legislators reported to be dual citizens of Israel as “a total fabrication.” However, he did allow that Rehm’s offense is not on the same order of magnitude as that created by the “anti-Semitic, anti-Israel” Helen Thomas in 2010 by writing:

“this is not a repeat of that time veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas went on an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel diatribe“

I’ve embedded below the Youtube “diatribe” video which Sichel links to so you can hear for yourself what Helen Thomas had to say on May 27, 2010 when questioned by Rabbi David F. Nesenoff on the White House Lawn on American Jewish Heritage Celebration Day. Rabbi Nesenoff titled the Youtube clip: “ Helen Thomas tells Jews to go back to Germany “

As you can hear, Helen Thomas’ remarks are directed towards the Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in their own homeland. Interviewer Nesenoff asks Thomas where the Jews should go and she replied they should “go home” and when pressed to where that would be, she replied: “to Germany, to Poland” … and “to America, and everywhere else.” As you can surmise from the video’s title, Zionists hear only what they want to hear and label anyone an ‘anti-Semite’ who criticizes Israel for anything; no matter how grievous or one sided or heinous the issue might be. (This is the ‘rule’ employed by all organs of Zionist-controlled media outlets whether print, TV, cable, radio or internet. Even someone with the reputation and respectability of a Helen Thomas is going to be demonized and mercilessly trashed in Zion’s ubiquitous media machinery in order that the lesson not be lost on other members of the Fourth Estate.)

The interview between NPR’s Rehm and Sanders may be genuine, but it’s also possible that it’s a set up by the same folks who (for want of a better word, let’s call them ‘masters of deception‘) bought us 9/11, the Aurora theater shooting, the Boston Bombing, Sandy Hokum, the Ottawa Parliament building shooting, etc., etc., to once and for all, dismiss as “a total fabrication” those annoying and incriminating dual Israeli citizen listings originally posted by Dan Eden in 2007 during the Bush administration, and later in 2012 by Michael Ruark covering the Obama administration.

Was the Rehm Interview a Set Up with a Hidden Agenda?
I’m somewhat suspicious of the Rehm interview because it doesn’t strike me as logical that a high profile interviewer like Diane Rehm on a nationally syndicated interview is going to tell Bernie Sanders that he’s an Israeli dual citizen. Ask him? Maybe. But tell him point blank with cameras rolling?

I don’t know; it looks a little fishy to me.

If she had asked him, he would have answered “no” and the moment would not have carried that much weight or interest, but telling him that he’s an Israeli dual citizen gave him the perfect opportunity to get on his high horse soapbox and create an instant front page story that reduces the dual Israeli citizen allegation to the stuff of Wing Nuts & Tin Foil Hat cadets. It’s only a speculation, granted, but I think it should be mentioned.

I can’t say with certainty that Bernie Sanders, running for President in 2016, is an Israeli dual citizen because the only people who would know that answer for certain are Sanders and the government of Israel; both of whom might find it convenient to deny it. Of course, Sanders might be telling the truth too. I don’t know what sources Dan Eden or Michael Ruark used to identify Sanders or other legislators identified on their lists as Israeli dual citizens, but Dan Eden did say that he was asked to investigate and write up the story by the editors of Viewpoint on the subject of Israeli dual citizens among federal government officials who were part of the Bush Administration. I don’t think he would be so cavalier that he would just run down a list of Jewish members of congress and appointees of the Bush administration and label them dual Israeli citizens. My guess is that he found corroborative evidence that these Jewish legislators had obtained Israeli citizenship under the absurdly easy-to-obtain visa status called the “Oleh” certificate, provided under Israel’s Law of Return, which is available to any Jew, or any person of Jewish ancestry, and their spouse and children by simply asking for it at an Israeli consulate or Oleh accommodation center. Even Jewish people who visit Israel on a tourist visa can change over to Oleh visa status by requesting it while there. Stepping off the plane in Israel with an Oleh visa (or switching over from a tourist visa to Oleh while in Israel) sets a process in motion that automatically confers Israeli citizenship to the Oleh visa holder after a waiting period of ninety days unless that Oleh visa holder specifically ask the Israel government to not grant citizenship.

Quoting from an article (emphasis added by me) posted on a web site from Lithuania with the title: “How to get second citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return by Andrew Henderson” (March 11, 2014)

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/03/11/how-to-get-second-citizenship-israel-law-of-return/
[Archived here]

[snip]

“How to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return

If you qualify for “oleh” status under the law, you must obtain an appropriate visa at your local consulate, or obtain said visa in Israel after arriving on a tourist visa. However, if you are a citizen of an eastern European or former Soviet state, you must apply at your local consulate or Jewish agency.

Upon your arrival in Israel, there is a ninety day waiting period before you can be awarded citizenship. However, citizenship is automatically granted unless you specifically ask the government not to grant you Israeli citizenship.

You are not required to remain in Israel during the ninety day period, and are free to travel on your current passport so long as you obtain an exit permit, which is typically a formality.

Even if you choose not to claim your Israel citizenship, you will retain the “oleh” status you arrived on, which confers permanent resident status.”

Therefore, Bernie Sanders simply had to fill out the application for an Oleh visa either before leaving America or after he arrived in Israel, and automatically be granted Israeli citizenship 90 days later (assuming he obtained an exit permit), unless, of course, he specifically asked the Israeli government not to grant him citizenship.

And do you think that ardent, pro-Israel fifth columnists like Bernie Sanders, or Charles Shummer, or Dianne Feinstein, or Jane Harman, or Barbara Boxer, or Al Franken, or Joseph Lieberman, or Benjamin Cardin, or Michael Chertoff, or Richard Pearle, or Paul Wolfowitz, or any of the other former or current American government officials alleged to hold dual Israeli citizenship, are going to tell the government of Israel that they will not accept automatic citizenship status after their 90 day Oleh visa waiting period has run its course? What d’ya think?

I looked at a number of web sites describing the Oleh visa process and the automatic granting of Israeli citizenship 90 days after arriving in Israel. They all concur with the explanation given above concerning the simplicity and ease of obtaining citizenship status- provided your are Jewish, you’re not a criminal, and you aren’t seen as a threat to the state of Israel. Despite efforts by Zion friendly web sites like the Tampa Bay Times to scoff at the notion of American legislators holding Israeli dual citizenship, and to make the Law of Return water slide into Israeli citizenship sound much more rigorous, formal, and difficult than it actually is, the ease and automatic granting of citizenship under the Oleh certificate visa process is unambiguous and clearly stated, even on Israeli government web sites.

Israel’s Law of Return makes obtaining Israeli citizenship a slam dunk, automated, 90 day process for any Jewish person who goes there on an Oleh certificate visa.

Ken Adachi

© Copyright 2015 Educate-Yourself.org  All Rights Reserved.

The Law of Return

http://www.jewishagency.org/first-steps/program/5131

In 1950, Israel’s Knesset passed a remarkable law, beginning with a few simple words that defined Israel’s central purpose: “Every Jew has the right to immigrate to this country…”

***

The Law of Return
(from Nefesh B’Nefesh)

http://www.nbn.org.il/aliyahpedia/government-services/government-benefits-new-immigrants-oleh-chadash/the-law-of-return/

The Law of Return, granting every Jew in the world the right to settle in Israel, was passed by the Knesset on July 5, 1950, and published in Sefer HaChukkim (Book of Laws) No. 51, p. 159.
Two amendments were later added on to the Law of Return – one passed August 23, 1954, and the other passed March 10, 1970.

Right of Aliyah
1. Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh**.

Oleh’s visa
2. (a) Aliyah shall be by oleh’s visa.
(b) An oleh’s visa shall be granted to every Jew who has expressed his desire to settle in Israel, unless the Minister of Immigration is satisfied that the applicant

(1) is engaged in an activity directed against the Jewish people; or
(2) is likely to endanger public health or the security of the State.

Oleh’s certificate
3. (a) A Jew who has come to Israel and subsequent to his arrival has expressed his desire to settle in Israel may, while still in Israel, receive an oleh’s certificate.
(b) The restrictions specified in section 2(b) shall apply also to the grant of an oleh’s certificate, but a person shall not be regarded as endangering public health on account of an illness contracted after his arrival in Israel.

Residents and persons born in this country [Israel]
4. Every Jew who has immigrated into this country before the coming into force of this Law, and every Jew who was born in this country, whether before or after the coming into force of this Law, shall be deemed to be a person who has come to this country as an oleh under this Law.

Implementation and regulations
5. The Minister of Immigration is charged with the implementation of this Law and may make regulations as to any matter relating to such implementation and also as to the grant of oleh’s visas and oleh’s certificates to minors up to the age of 18 years.

DAVID BEN-GURION
Prime Minister

[snip]