At 09:50 AM 7/19/01 -0400, you wrote:
>It may not sound like much, but the vast majority of Russians arrived
>through that loophole. They now make up 20% of the voting population.
>They are legally Israels, but most of them are not only not Jewish in
>terms of religion or culture, but not even legally. And less so as time
>goes man, since the applicant was usually the husband. The first thing
>his mother-in-law does when she gets off the boat is look for the Church,
>and that's where a lot if not most of them get married, just because it's
>less hassle. So they are a big wedge of non-Jewish citizenship, and
>unlike the 20% that are Arab citizens, this bunch can own land.
So, in practice the right of land ownership is "European", not "Jewish". Or the trend is in that direction, rendering the right simultaneously more "racist" _and_ more secular.
Who can or cannot become "legally Israeli"? Assuming excluding religious marriage law as a criterion for citizenship.
-Brad Mayer