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Israel to revoke citizenship, deport two Arab Israelis accused of attacks
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced on X that he signed the revocation of citizenship and deportation orders for two Arab Israelis who allegedly carried out stabbing and shooting attacks.
“I thank the coalition leader [Ofir Katz] for leading the law that will expel them from the State of Israel, and many more like them are on the way,” Netanyahu wrote, without specifying where they would be deported to.
The move comes after a February 2023 law allowed the revocation of citizenship and the deportation of those convicted of “terrorism”.
The two men to be deported were identified in a statement from Katz, cited by Israeli media, as Mahmoud Ahmad – sentenced to 23 years in prison for shooting Israeli soldiers and civilians – and Mohammed Ahmad Hussein al-Halsi – sentenced in 2016 to 18 years for stabbing elderly women in Armon HaNatziv.
Deport where?
Decision to strip two Palestinian Israelis of citizenship ‘unprecedented’
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh says that Israel’s move to deport two residents of occupied East Jerusalem convicted of carrying out attacks and strip them of their citizenship was “unprecedented”.
“Israel is willing to … vacate Jerusalemites from the legal right to be in the city,” Odeh said at Al Jazeera’s Doha studios. Israeli media reported that the two Palestinians would be deported to Gaza.
While Palestinians are known to have been deported to Gaza under prisoner exchange deals, this time, the situation was different as the move also strips them of their only form of identification.
Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem are given Jerusalem IDs by Israeli authorities.
“If that citizenship is revoked, they are essentially people without any form of identification. They would not be able to go to a hospital, to register their kids in school, they would be completely nameless, they won’t exist,” Odeh said.
Deportation of Palestinian citizens of Israel ‘violates statelessness prohibition’
Adalah, a legal centre for Palestinian rights in Israel, has condemned Netanyahu’s announcement that two Palestinian citizens of Israel will be stripped of their citizenship and deported from the country for allegedly carrying out attacks.
“These deportation orders allow Palestinian citizens of Israel to be physically exiled from their homeland,” Adalah said in a statement. “The government has transformed the most fundamental human right into a conditional permit that can be revoked at will,” the group said.
“This unprecedented move violates the absolute international prohibition against statelessness and destroys the most foundational basic protection of citizenship.”
