Israel denies migration to two Jews for protecting Palestinians in West Bank

Israel has frozen the migration applications of two Jewish activists from Britain and the US who had initially been approved to immigrate, apparently over their pro-Palestinian activism in the occupied West Bank against settler attacks.

The two activists, a 23-year-old British man and a 27-year-old American woman who do not know each other, had their eligibility for migration - or "Aliyah" as Israel refers to it - approved by the Jewish Agency before the Population and Immigration Authority intervened and put the applications under review, according to Haaretz.

The Population and Immigration Authority has not publicly provided a reason for the decisions. It said the two applications were being examined individually and that the applicants would be notified once decisions had been made. The Jewish Agency said it could not comment on individual cases because of privacy concerns.

Aliyah, meaning "ascent" or "going up" in Hebrew, refers to Jewish immigration to Israel. Under Israel's so-called "Law of Return", Jews from anywhere in the world have the right to immigrate to Israel and obtain citizenship, subject to certain exceptions.

Palestinian refugees and their descendants, ethnically cleansed by Israeli forces in 1948 and afterwards, are barred from returning to their ancestral homes.

The Jewish activists had participated in "protective presence" activities in the West Bank, in which volunteers accompany Palestinian communities facing settler violence and document attacks.

The British activist, Lawrence Shenkin, had previously spent about five years in Israel after moving there at 18 to study at a yeshiva, a traditional Jewish educational institution focused primarily on the study of Rabbinic literature, the Talmud, and Jewish law. He later joined Bnei Avraham, a group of religious Jewish activists involved in supporting Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

Shenkin began his Aliyah application in late 2025 and received confirmation from the Jewish Agency in July that he was eligible to immigrate. But less than a month later, he was told that the Population and Immigration Authority had temporarily revoked the approval while it reviewed his eligibility.

The American activist, who has not been named, was similarly approved by the Jewish Agency before being informed that her application had been frozen and was under review by the Population and Immigration Authority. According to messages obtained by Haaretz, a senior authority official told her partner that Israel did not allow activists who "act against Israel" into the country.

The cases are notable because both activists were seeking to immigrate under Israel’s Law of Return, which provides Jews from abroad with a route to Israeli citizenship. The Population and Immigration Authority, however, has referred to provisions of the Entry into Israel Law in its handling of the cases, despite that law primarily governing the entry of people who are not citizens or new immigrants.

The activists' applications remain under review, and it is not yet clear whether they will ultimately be allowed to immigrate.

Haaretz previously reported that Israel has deported foreign activists involved in protective-presence work in the West Bank, including Jewish activists. The newspaper said the two cases were the first known instances in which authorities appeared to have blocked "Aliyah" applications involving activists engaged in such work.

Palestinians in the West Bank have lately been targeted to an unprecedented degree by extremist Israeli settlers and military forces, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has accelerated the construction and expansion of illegal settlements in the territory.

The actions has prompted several Western governments to shift their stance on Israel to a limited degree and impose sanctions on the settlements and some settlers.

While Jews of any nationality are allowed to immigrate to Israel and, in most cases, obtain citizenship, thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem are being forcibly evicted from their homes and their properties confiscated or demolished.

In the Gaza Strip, much of the war-torn enclave’s roughly two million residents have been displaced by Israel’s three-year long genocidal war.