Deported British Jew’s application for aliyah thwarted

A British Jew has arrived back in London from Israel, trying to make sense of his deportation after he applied to make aliyah.

Leo Franks, who was born in London and who lived for a time in Israel with his family, is 25 and a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley.

A frequent traveller to Israel, he arrived in the country in April this year, moved in with his Israeli girlfriend and began the process of application to become an Israeli citizen.

But, according to an interview he gave to the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA), his application was stymied because, he believes, he was being punished for his left-wing activism.

Franks told JTA: “The story here is that the courts have given the Ministry of Interior free rein to make decisions about who can be a Jew in Israel on the basis of his politics.”

He said his case had been abruptly closed by the Interior Ministry. His lawyer, Ira Rozina, told JTA: “Was the ministry targeting him because he is some kind of activist? I can’t say. It’s clear the police want these activists to leave the country, and that was the end result of the ministry’s actions.

“This is a person with a right to make aliyah,” she said. “To prevent someone from exercising that basic right should require a very significant justification.”

Franks says he is not affiliated with any particular activist group. But he did join an anti-settlement action in the West Bank, giving rise to outrage on the right wing of the governing coalition. Israeli media report that the government has increased its efforts to stamp down out West Bank protests in recent months.

During another protest, Franks was briefly arrested and his passport confiscated by police. It is understood that though his passport was returned to him — after he went to court on the matter — his arrest was reported to the immigration authorities, giving rise to his belief that his political activism led to his deportation.

Now Franks has returned to London, and says his troubles have affected his relationship with his long-term Israeli girlfriend. He has been advised to make any renewed aliyah application from the UK, though it is unclear if he will take that option.