Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked a court on Thursday to revoke the Israeli citizenship of two Palestinian men convicted of terrorist crimes.
The effort appears to be the first application of a law enacted three years ago that allows for the revocation of citizenship and subsequent deportation of Palestinian citizens convicted of certain violent crimes such as terrorism and who have received financial support from the Palestinian Authority in return.
Netanyahu filed court papers arguing that the severity of the crimes, along with payments the men allegedly received from a Palestinian Authority fund, justify revoking their citizenship and expulsion from the Jewish state.
The prime minister has long claimed that the fund rewards violence, including attacks on civilians.
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Palestinian men are released from Israel’s Ofer prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah on July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
But Palestinian officials have argued that it is a safety net for the broad cross-section of society with relatives in Israeli detention. They also accused Netanyahu of focusing on the relatively small number of beneficiaries who carried out the attacks.
When the law was passed, critics argued that it allowed the Israeli legal system to treat the Jewish and Palestinian people differently. Civil rights groups said basing a deportation law on payments from the Palestinian Authority effectively excludes Jewish Israelis, including settlers convicted of attacks on Palestinians, from the threat of losing their citizenship, as the statute targeted people of a certain race.
Netanyahu said this week that the government has initiated proceedings against the two men and that similar cases will be filed in the future.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked a court to revoke the Israeli citizenship of two Palestinian men convicted of terrorist crimes. (YAIR SAGI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli officials said Mohamad Ahmad, a citizen of Jerusalem, had been convicted of “crimes constituting an act of terror and receiving money in connection with terrorism.” He is said to have received payment after being convicted of a shooting in 2002 and served 23 years before his release in 2024.
Mohammed Ahmad Hussein al-Halsi was sentenced to 18 years behind bars in 2016 for stabbing elderly women. He also allegedly received payments while in prison.
Ahmad would be immediately deported, while al-Halsi would be removed upon his release, as individuals can be removed to Gaza once their sentences are completed under the 2023 law, which applies to citizens or permanent residents convicted of “committing an act that constitutes a violation of loyalty to the State of Israel,” including terrorism.
When the law was passed, critics argued that it allowed the Israeli legal system to treat the Jewish and Palestinian people differently. (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool/File Photo)
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The general director of the Israeli legal center Adalah, Hassan Jabareen, called the move to use the law “a cynical propaganda move” by Netanyahu. He said deprivation of citizenship violates the most fundamental principles of the rule of law, including by targeting people who have served prison sentences.
“The Israeli government is trying to deprive individuals of the basis by which all rights are protected, their nationality,” he said Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
