Herzl’s cousin makes aliyah from Belgrade despite obstacles

That alone wouldn't have bothered her or her grandson Danny Popovic, who welcomed her and his mother on the flight from Budapest. What really rankled them was the fact that Nira's son and Danny's father, Brana Popovic, who stayed behind in Budapest to help members of the Jewish community, has had Israeli citizenship since 1973.

Nira also has other blood relatives here who have Israeli citizenship. His other grandmother had no such problems.

"Herzl would be spinning in his grave if he heard about the way she was treated," Nira said through her grandson, who is 29.

Asked why he thought the officials gave his grandmother a hard time, Danny said that either the officials in charge were just "having a bad day" or "the state of Israel is not that interested in bringing elderly people over, because they are a burden on the state and might seek pensions.

However, an official who dealt with the case disputed some of the family's claims, asserting that Danny "hardly raised a finger" to help resolve the bureaucratic problem and could have gotten a copy of his father's identity card from the local Interior Ministry office.

"It's the immigrant's duty to present documents, not mine," the official said. "I can't go looking for such items. I don't know why everyone's making such a big deal out of it."

He noted that Nina's son had emigrated from Israel. The officials also said that he is not completely convinced that Nina is really related to Herzl.

However, he bent the rules for her after receiving a fax of her son's birth certificate. "That's the only thing that proved to me her son came here once as an immigrant...I can only work on the basis of documents, not say-so."