The Interior Ministry withdrew today its demand that Mrs. Rina Eitani, a member of the Upper Nazareth City Council, should hand in her passport pending clarification of her nationality status. The investigation has sparked a contriversy in Israel.
The Ministry contended that since she had a non-Jewish mother, she was not entitled to automatic Israeli citizenship under the Law of the Return. Mrs. Eitani was recorded in the 1948 census as being of Jewish nationality. She received Israeli citizenship in 1952 under the Law of the Return and in 1961 she received a passport which was renewed in 1964. Last December, the interior Ministry asked her to hand in her passport and the issue was raised in Israel’s Parliament.
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