The U.S. Navy reversed its decision to deny security clearance to a dentist because of his family in Israel.

The Navy informed Gershon Pincus of its reversal on Jan. 7, the Albany Times Union reported.

Pincus, 62, told the newspaper he was “overjoyed.” He commutes 400 miles one day a week from his New York City home to Saratoga Springs, New York, where he treats sailors serving at the nearby U.S. nuclear submarine propulsion program.

Pincus had initially been denied clearance because of his weekly phone contact with his mother and brother in Israel.

“Foreign contacts and interests may be a security concern due to divided loyalties or foreign financial interests, may be manipulated or induced to help a foreign person, group, organization or government in a way that is not in U.S. interests, or is vulnerable to pressure or coercion by foreign interests,” said the statement of reasons released to Pincus by the Office of Personnel Management.

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