Interior Minister Aryeh Deri began advancing draft legislation to strengthen the Chief Rabbinate’s grip over the conversion into Judaism process on June 18. This comes in response to the erosion of its monopoly in a series of Supreme Court rulings.

Deri’s proposed legislation presents yet another landmine facing Israel’s new unity government. It is exactly why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attempt to temper and delay it for the next year at least. In this early stage of his term, he is facing two main challenges: annexing West Bank settlements and reinvigorating the Israeli economy, which suffered a devastating blow as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. What Netanyahu does not need at this stage is another conflict with his coalition partners in the Blue and White party. One thing that will likely help him is a clause in the coalition agreement stating that no controversial legislation will be brought before the Knesset in the immediate future.

The question of conversion in Israel has plagued the national agenda since the 1970s. The main debate is between the Orthodox establishment, which demanded a monopoly over conversion, not only in Israel but in the rest of the world. The Chief Rabbinate remained stubborn in its refusal to recognize any other conversions, particularly when conducted by the Reform and Conservative movements. While these groups may not have much political influence in Israel, they represent a majority of American Jews.

While the Reform and Conservative movements fought a stubborn political battle to get Israel to recognize their conversions, it took the Supreme Court to expand recognition of their conversions by the Israeli authorities. The court’s ruling stated that non-Orthodox conversions conducted overseas would be recognized, when it comes to the Law of Return, which grants every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel. This means that a person converted into Judaism abroad is entitled to become an Israeli citizen when immigrating to Israel.