Israel Opens Doors: Law of Return Enacted
Israel's Knesset passed the Law of Return on July 5, 1950, granting every Jewish person worldwide the automatic right to immigrate and claim citizenship. The law codified the young state's founding purpose as a permanent refuge after the Holocaust, when millions had perished partly because no country would accept them. In its first three years, the law brought 700,000 immigrants from across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, doubling Israel's population and fundamentally transforming its demographics, language, and culture. The law remains one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in Israeli history, continuously debated over who qualifies as Jewish and what obligations citizenship entails.
July 5, 1950
76 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Israel
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Jew
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Knesset
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Jews
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Zionism
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Law of Return
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Knesset
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Israel
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Law of Return
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Jews
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United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194
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Geschichte des Staates Israel
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Zionism
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1963 demonstrations in Iran
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Ruhollah Khomeini
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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
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United States
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