In September 2014, Ministry of the Interior Gideon Sa'ar instructed the PIBA to recognize Arameans as an ethnicity separate from Israeli Arabs.[3][4] Under the Ministry of the Interior's guidance, people born into Arabic-speaking Christian families or clans who have either Aramaic or Maronite cultural heritage within their family are eligible to register as Arameans. About 200 Christian families were thought to be eligible prior to this decision.[5] According to an August 9, 2013 Israel Hayom article, at that time an estimated 10,500 persons were eligible to receive Aramean ethnic status according to the new regulations, including 10,000 Maronites (which included 2,000 former SLA members), 500 Syriac Catholics, and also 1,500 Aramean members of the Syriac Orthodox Church (which prior to that were registered as "Assyrians")[6]