Israel moved to test a 2023 law that would allow it to revoke citizenship from certain Palestinian citizens convicted of violent offenses, seeking court permission on Thursday to strip nationality from two men and expel them to the West Bank or Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s filing argues the severity of the crimes and the alleged link to Palestinian Authority payments provide the justification for revocation under the statute, according to court documents submitted to the court.
The case is being watched closely because roughly one in five Israeli citizens is Palestinian, and critics of the citizenship-revocation law have said it effectively results in a legal system that treats Jewish and Palestinian citizens differently. The government’s approach also faces scrutiny from rights groups, which argue that tying a deportation mechanism to Palestinian Authority-linked payments makes the law’s practical reach turn on nationality rather than solely on the nature of the offense.
One of the filings seen by The Associated Press describes the request against Mohamad Hamad, a 48-year-old citizen from east Jerusalem. The state’s request says Hamad was convicted of “offenses that constitute an act of terrorism and receiving funds in connection with terrorism,” and the documents allege he received payments after he was sentenced in 2002 on charges that included shootings and weapons trafficking. The filing also says he served more than two decades in prison before his release.
The 2023 law, which the government is now seeking to apply for what it describes as a first test, applies to citizens or permanent residents convicted of “committing an act that constitutes a breach of loyalty to the State of Israel,” including terrorism, according to court documents. The request in this case does not specify to where the government would deport the individuals if the court authorizes the government to proceed.
Hassan Jabareen, general director of Israel’s Adalah legal center, criticized the move as what he called a “cynical propaganda move” by Netanyahu, saying the revocation step violates rule-of-law principles including by targeting people after they have completed prison sentences. “The Israeli government is attempting to strip individuals of the very foundation through which all rights are protected, their nationality,” Jabareen said on Thursday, according to the AP report.
Israel’s broader position is that the Palestinian Authority fund in question rewards violence, including attacks on civilians, and that the payments create a sufficient link to justify stripping citizenship and deporting those convicted. Palestinian officials, in contrast, have defended the fund as a safety net for a broad cross-section of society with family members in Israeli detention, dismissing Netanyahu’s focus on the relatively small share of beneficiaries involved in attacks.
The Associated Press report said the citizenship-revocation law would put Israel among a small number of countries, including Bahrain, that revoke citizenship for people born with citizenship in their country. It also noted that countries such as the United Kingdom and France have stripped dual or naturalized citizens following terrorism convictions, while international conventions generally bar states from taking away nationality in a way that would leave a person stateless.
In Thursday’s court filings, Netanyahu said proceedings had been launched against the two men and that additional cases would follow, the AP report said.