Barbra Streisand's Cousin Blocked From Moving to Israel

JERUSALEM -- Israel has decided against allowing the cousin of Barbra Streisand to immigrate to the country even though as a Jew he is automatically entitled to citizenship here under the Law of Return.

Dale Streisand, 57, lived in the U.S. until a year ago, when he moved to the Philippines after getting married. Last August he submitted a request to the Israeli government to "make aliyah," meaning, literally, "to ascend." He told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that he had been thinking of moving to Israel for many years but decided to take the plunge now because his wife is pregnant and he wanted the child to be born in Israel.

Immigration officials here have not provided details behind their decision, but Streisand's Facebook profile may have been a factor. On it he had a link to a Christian missionary website. Streisand told Haaretz that the link titled "Click if you love Jesus" had come from one of his friends and that he has since deleted it.

His Facebook page today has a prominent photo of an Israeli flag and lists the ultra-Orthodox Chabad movement and the settler radio station Arutz Sheva among his friends. Streisand said he is a newly observant Jew and spends time studying Jewish texts. He also reminded the Israeli authorities that his famous cousin Barbra has donated money to several charities in Israel.

But this week he said he received a letter from the Jewish Agency, which is responsible for immigration, saying that the Interior Ministry has concluded that he is not eligible to immigrate to Israel.

The Law of Return, passed in Israel in 1950, granted automatic citizenship to anyone with one Jewish grandparent to the then-nascent Jewish state. In the 1990s some 1 million citizens of the former Soviet Union came to Israel under this law.

According to the law, the Interior Ministry can deny Jews the right to immigrate if they have a criminal record, endanger public health or state security, or if they "work against the Jewish people."

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In a statement, the Jewish Agency passed the buck to the Interior Ministry.

"The Jewish Agency, which assists the Interior Ministry in examining the right to immigrate, referred Mr. Streisand to a meeting with representatives of the Interior Ministry, who were not persuaded that he bears the right to immigrate," the statement read.

It then continued, "It was never claimed that Mr. Streisand is not a Jew by birth. Obviously an individual's relationship with Christians does not revoke his right to immigrate."

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry was not available to comment.