A young Russian immigrant received her Israeli citizenship Wednesday, and will now be able to represent Israel in official gymnastics tournaments. Twelve year-old Ksanya Kasrin has been waiting for this day for six years. Until recently, she registered for international competitions with her Russian passport, not as a part of Team Israel. Kasrin is currently ranked third in Israel, and recently won the Bronze medal in a Russian competition for her age group. She is considered a great talent and hope for …More

The parliament of Portugal is scheduled to vote on whether to naturalize descendants of 16th-century Jews who fled the country because of religious persecution. The motion will be brought to a first reading on Thursday by Portugal’s Socialist Party and is expected to pass, as it has the support of the ruling Social Democratic Party, according to Jose Oulman Carp, president of Portugal's Jewish community. Together the parties hold 80 percent of the Portuguese parliament’s 230 seats. Carp called the …More

A dual American-Israeli citizen who was elected to the Knesset will have to give up his American citizenship when he takes office. Rabbi Dov Lipman, elected Jan. 22 to the Knesset from the Yesh Atid party, is the third US citizen to serve in the Knesset and the first to voluntarily give up his citizenship, Haaretz reported. Lipman is No. 17 on the list of the party headed by former television personality Yair Lapid; the party garnered the second highest vote total. Lipman, of Beit Shemesh, immigrated to Israel …More

Spain has announced an expedited naturalization process for descendants of Jews forced out of the country during the Inquisition. The option of naturalized citizenship has been on the table for decades, but now those seeking the benefit can move directly though the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities for the vetting process. The move, announced Thursday, can potentially speed up the process for thousands of Jews living in areas like Turkey and Latin America, the Spanish government stated. The decision aims …More

The estate of convicted Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk again has asked an appeals court to help posthumously restore his US citizenship. In a filing Monday, Demjanjuk's estate asked the full 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to take up the case. In June, a three-judge panel of the court ruled that Demjanjuk’s US citizenship cannot be posthumously restored and that his death made the case moot. Demjanjuk, a former Ohio autoworker, died in southern Germany on March 17 at the age of 91. The …More

The American Nazi Party has its first official lobbyist in the Capitol, 53 years after the party was founded. John Bowles, a South Carolina resident who runs a Ku Klux Klan museum, registered late last week with Capitol Hill, making him his party’s only pundit in DC. According to the registration document, Bowles, 55, plans to focus on issues like immigration, civil rights and the national budget. In an interview with ABC News, he added, “I’m not going to go in and shove a swastika in their …More

Attorneys for convicted Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk have asked a US appeals court to restore his citizenship posthumously. The attorneys in their request of April 12 asked the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to reinstate Demjanjuk's citizenship or to order a hearing on the question, The Associated Press reported over the weekend. They argued that US District Court Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland made a mistake by not reopening the case when Demjanjuk requested it last year. In asking Polster to …More

Jews who left Greece during World War II can have their citizenship reinstated following the enactment of a new law in Greece. The Greek government on Sept. 2 passed an amendment to a new foreign resident law that will automatically reinstate Greek citizenship for all Jews that were born in or before 1945. The number of Greek Jews affected by the amendment is likely no more than 300 to 350, according to reports. Their descendants, although eligible, will not receive citizenship automatically. They must apply and …More

Adolf Hitler's Austrian birth town of Braunau confirmed Friday that it had removed the German dictator from its list of honorary citizens, in a symbolic step that came as a reaction to increasing media pressure. The town council's decision on Thursday evening followed recent similar moves in several other Austrian communities. Although Hitler had never been stripped of his citizenship, his honorary status expired with his death in 1945, Green party councilman Manfred Hackl told the German Press Agency DPA from …More