Israel Immigration Authority Blocks U.S. Aliyah Over Zoom-Era Conversion; Court Challenge Looms

Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority denied a U.S. woman’s aliyah under the Law of Return, ruling her COVID-era, congregation-run Zoom conversion and post-conversion communal activity did not meet 2014 Interior Ministry criteria. The Israel Religious Action Center plans a court petition arguing that pandemic hybrid coursework should count and that she demonstrated Jewish communal integration. The case spotlights a growing gap between Diaspora conversion practices since COVID and Israeli bureaucratic standards, with potential implications for other pandemic-era converts.