Daniel Wolfram
Israel has frozen the aliyah process for two Jewish people because of their left-leaning stance.
Two young Jewish people recently found out that their immigration to Israel had been halted. Haaretz reported that British and American citizens were previously approved for citizenship under the Law of Return before officials intervened and froze their citizenship.
This practice is called aliyah and ensures that every Jewish person around the world can travel to Israel to gain citizenship. The Law of Return was passed in 1950 right after the Second World War.
The decision comes after their work with protective presence groups. These volunteers stay in Palestinian communities to record military actions and deter settler violence.
Travel permit canceled
This marks the first time Israel has targeted immigrants eligible under the Law of Return. Neither of them has a criminal record.
One activist is 23-year-old Lawrence Shenkin, who grew up in London and studied in Jerusalem. He joined a religious group called Bnei Avraham in 2023 to support local Palestinian families.
His banishment from Israel started in June 2025 near Mu’arrajat, a rural Palestinian area in the West Bank, where a settlement officer photographed Shenkin’s passport. Months later, he got a notification that Israeli officials had canceled his travel permit while he was visiting family in London.
Aliyah frozen after ‘mazal tov’
When Shenkin tried to return, border officials refused to let him in. Shenkin had an apartment, a job, and a partner he ultimately had to leave behind.
He told Haaretz, “Immigrating is a long, hard process, but I can’t even get into the country. If I could go there even as a tourist and sort things out, it would be so much simpler. My community is there, my friends are there, my girlfriend is there. My whole life is there.”
Although the Jewish Agency sent him a “mazal tov email” approving his eligibility to gain citizenship in July, officials revoked it weeks later.
In response to this story, the Jewish Agency stated: “The Population and Immigration Authority is the government body responsible for implementing the Law of Return. In light of this, and for reasons of privacy, we cannot comment on the details of the cases.”
