Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Israel Extends Law of Return to Non-Jewish Same-Sex Spouses

Israel extended immigration benefits to non-Jewish spouses in same-sex marriages.

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Gideon Saar instructed the government to extend the benefits of the Law of Return to all married couples.

The law affords non-Jewish spouses of Jewish immigrants full citizenship and immigration benefits, but Israel had not extended the privileges to same-sex spouses while not explicitly prohibiting same-sex spouses from receiving them.

“The Law of Return deals with the ingathering of all members of the Jewish people,” Saar wrote to his ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority, according to Haaretz. “In this regard, I see no reason to distinguish between Jews married in heterosexual marriages and Jews legally married abroad to a same-sex spouse. Both are Jews in terms of the Law of Return.”

Israel does not recognize same-sex marriages performed in the country, but does recognize same-sex marriages performed abroad.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.