User:The C of E/bvi

HCJ 265/87 Beresford v Ministry of Interior (1989), IsrSC 43(4) 793 is a Supreme Court of Israel case. The case was brought by Gary and Shirley Beresford to challenge a decision by the Ministry of Interior to deny them Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return as they were Messianic Jews. The court ruled that Messianic Judaism was not a recognised form of Judaism and thus adherents were not eligible for automatic Israeli citizenship.

Background
Gary and Shirley Beresford were members of Jews for Jesus, a Messianic Jewish group that believes that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. They entered Israel from Zimbabwe in 1986 with the intent of following the Law of Return and applied for Israeli citizenship. The Ministry of Interior rejected their application on the grounds that they were not followers of Judaism despite being born Jewish.

Case
The judges at the court ruled that a belief in Jesus as the Messiah meant that they were followers of another religion and thus not recognised as Jewish under the law.