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This week's Law and Order episode presented interesting issues of religious and ethnic identity in our society. After a co-owner of a clothing store is found murdered in the basement of the store, the investigation draws suspicion to Eli Becker, the son of the surviving partner. As it turns out, Eli had been stealing coats from the store to finance a drug habit.

When Detectives Briscoe and Green arrive at the store to arrest Eli, he is absent and his father will tell the detectives nothing more than "He's going where you can't get him." Investigation reveals that Eli fled to Israel, and is using the Law of Return to fight extradition back to the United States. The Law of Return, which can be viewed at http://www.israel.org/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00kp0, provides that every Jewish person has the right to emigrate to Israel.

On the show, an official of the Israeli consulate presents this as a right of non-extradition to Jewish citizens of Israel who maintain a residence there. It is on this basis, Eli argues, that he cannot be extradited and can only be tried in Israel, despite the fact that the murder occurred in New York. Such an interpretation of the statute contradicts the apparent facial terms of the statute, as it does not explicitly provide for immunity from extradition. To the contrary, the Law of Return appears to pose problems for Eli: it was amended to exclude "person(s) with a criminal past, likely to endanger public welfare."

With respect to the pending murder charge, Eli may be able to argue that he should not be considered a person with a criminal past, since no verdict has yet been rendered. However, this is a tenuous argument, and even if successful, Israel could regard Eli as having a criminal past, due to his admitted involvement in stealing the coats from the store and his drug habit.

Personally, I agree with Nora Lewin's comment that once a murder is committed the killer forfeits his right to escape prosecution through the Law of Return or similar laws. District attorneys have the duty to prosecute crimes that are committed in their jurisdiction, and this obligation should not be thwarted by using the Law of Return as a shield against US jurisdiction.

Eli has another problem with claiming protection under the Law of Return - he was born to a Catholic woman and adopted by the Becker family at six weeks. The Law defines "Jew" as "a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion." Thus, to have the Law apply to him, Eli needs to show that he converted to Judaism. Abbie Carmichael argues before the House of Israel Rabbinical Court that Eli never met the three requirements for conversion. The Rabbinical Court rules that Eli's conversion to Judaism is defective for failing to show completion of one of these requirements called a mikvah, which is a Jewish ritual bath. Consequently, Eli is finally extradited back to the US and charged with murder.

While testifying in his defense, Eli is asked a question about the victim's grandson. In response, Eli addresses a string of hostile questions to the grandson, who sits in the courtroom gallery. This scene rings false for me. Even in the unlikely event that the prosecutor failed to object to tirade, the presiding judge surely would do so.

The show ends with a plea bargain. The Nation of Israel inexplicably offers to let Eli serve his sentence there, instead of in the U.S. Once he pleas, of course, Eli has a criminal past. Why Israel would want a murdering, drug-addicted thief with no claim to citizenship is a mystery to me. This episode did not live up to the show's usual standards of excellence.

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