This is a very well researched article – Race and Surveillance in the Settler Colony

I found this article when trying to answer a question I had posed for myself: Do you have to be Jewish to settle in Israel? Remember there are black Jews as well as European Jews. And I’ve been asking myself, who are the Jewish “settlers” – obviously not victims of German Nazi aggression (that was back before or immediately after 1945) – so this quote from the article posted above is relevant:

‘Race thinking is responsible for Israel’s racial citizenship and immigration regime that privileges the “ingathering of (Jewish) exiles” on the strength of The Law of Return. Enacted in 1950, this law, based on Orthodox Judaism, applies to people with a Jewish mother or maternal grandmother, later changed—in response to Israel’s demographic anxiety following the 197 occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights (Wolfe, 2016) to apply to those with one Jewish grandparent. (Hayeem, 2010). Jewish immigrants are granted jus sanguinis citizenship and generous financial and social benefits and tax exemptions with the imperative of ensuring Israel’s Jewish majority.’

So, according to this article, today all you need is to have had one Jewish grandparent. This means you only have to be a quarter Jewish to settle on Palestinian land by forcible appropriation.

Also notice the use of the word ‘exiles’ – this signifies that if you are quarter Jewish and living anywhere else in the world you are technically an “exile” however comfortably off you may happen to be.

Wikihow (in their entry How to Immigrate) states that “If you’re Jewish, which is defined as being born to a mother who is Jewish or having converted to Judaism, then there is not much that you need to do. Israel will welcome you with open arms” (and we have seen above that actually all that is now required is a Jewish grandparent) “All you have to do is go there and formally request citizenship.” However, Wikihow continues:

“You can also be considered a Jew according to this law if you converted to Judaism and are not a member of another religion. If you converted to Judaism, you’ll need a letter from an Orthodox rabbi that you can bring to the rabbinical court. This group is part of the Israeli justice system and they determine who is considered Jewish or not.” So you don’t actually have to be even a quarter Jewish – you can simply convert to Judaism. Interesting.