34-year-old Michael Chebunin did not expect that a meeting with the beautiful Inessa Tsareva from St. Petersburg will break his life on "before" and "after". "Before" was the life of an ordinary Israeli guy, soldier of combat units. After - the humiliating upholstering of the thresholds of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in an attempt to prove their right to live in Israel.

- I was born in Georgia and was a late child with my mother, - Michael told the correspondents of "Vesti". - I was only 8 years old when my mother retired. Nevertheless, it was at this age, alone with the child, that she immigrated to Israel.

We settled in Kiryat Shmona. There, on the northern border, life was cheaper than in the center. Mom received old-age benefits, and I worked since 11 years - worked part time in the local market. I brought the purchases, any such. I understood that my mother should be helped. Never complained. At the age of 18 he was drafted into the army, into combat units. I can not say much, I will only say that I neutralized the terrorists. Was in the most dangerous places - Jenin, Tulkarem, Jericho.

- What happened in your life now?.

- Several years ago at sea I saw a girl who was surfing. It was like a thunderbolt. We fell in love. Inessa turned out to be a tourist from Russia. Then she left, we called back. And two years ago I invited Inna to move to Israel. We went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a request to arrange cohabitation. I, of course, understood that every foreigner is checked. But that they will begin to check me, did not expect.

In the Ministry of Internal Affairs I was told to apply to "Nativ" - the government bureau for relations with the Jewishness of the former USSR.

- What for?.

- Check whether I have legitimately "penetrated" the country. I was very surprised. I grew up in Israel, finished school here, served in the army, I work - what to check? But even more I was amazed when I received the answer in the "Nativ": "Your Jewry is in doubt. You must provide additional documents ".

- Which for example?.

- The answer was vague: Well, for example, the birth certificate of my grandmother. I was as thunderstruck. First, where to get it now? Secondly, why should I go through the procedure that my mother passed successfully thirty years ago? The same "Nativ" checked her documents and found them suitable for citizenship.

I grew up and was brought up as a Jew. A circumcision ceremony was held. At the age of 13, he celebrated a bar mitzvah in the synagogue. For 26 years of my life in Israel no one has asked me for repeated evidence of Jewishness - neither in the army nor in the course of special forces. The state recognized me as my own when I risked my life in the IDF. Believes his own when he takes taxes. And suddenly decided to dig in my pedigree only because I want to live with a Russian girl?.

Michael Chebunin published his story in Facebook and received hundreds of responses. It turned out his case was not the only one.

- Many have written that such checks are subjected only to "Russian" returnees. Natives of the United States or France and other countries who decided to marry foreigners do not have to prove their Jewishness again,.

The case of Chebunin became the basis for the meeting of the Knesset Committee for State Control. It was held on December 25 at the initiative of MP Yulia Malinovskaya (NDI). She presented the conclusion of the Deputy Legal Counselor of the Government of Dina Zilber. It refers to the inadmissibility of re-examination of the right to repatriate against persons who applied for civil status to spouses or close relatives.

The Knesset Committee decided that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is obliged within two months to review this practice.