Netanyahu asks court to pull Palestinians’ Israeli citizenship after terrorism convictions
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday asked the court to revoke the Israeli citizenship of two Palestinian men convicted of terrorism crimes.
The effort appears to be the first use of a law enacted three years ago that allows the revocation of citizenship and subsequent deportation of Palestinian citizens convicted of certain violent crimes such as terrorism and who receive financial support from the Palestinian Authority as a reward.
Netanyahu filed court documents arguing that the gravity of the crimes and the payments the men reportedly received from Palestinian Authority funding justified stripping them of their citizenship and expelling them from the Jewish State.
The prime minister has long claimed the fund rewards violence, including attacks on civilians.
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Palestinian men were 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 wider community, along with family members detained in Israel. 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 Jewish and Palestinian people differently. Civil rights groups have said basing the deportation law on Palestinian Authority payments effectively excludes Jewish Israelis, including settlers convicted of attacks against Palestinians, from the threat of losing their citizenship because the law targets people of a particular race.
Netanyahu said this week that the government had taken action against the two men and that similar cases would be filed in the future.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the court to revoke the Israeli citizenship of two Palestinian men convicted of terrorism crimes. (YAIR SAGI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli officials said Jerusalem citizen Mohammed Ahmed was found guilty of “crimes constituting an act of terrorism and receiving money in connection with terrorism.” He allegedly received payment after being sentenced to prison for a shooting in 2002 and served 23 years in prison before being released in 2024.
Mohammed Ahmed Hussein al-Halsi was sentenced to 18 years in prison for stabbing elderly women in 2016. It is alleged that he also received payments while in prison.
Ahmed will be deported immediately, and when he is released, al-Halsi will also be dismissed; as individuals will be subject to removal to Gaza upon completion of their sentences 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 Jewish and Palestinian people differently. (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool/File Photo)
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Hasan Jabareen, director general of Israel’s Adalah legal center, called the move to use the law a “cynical propaganda move” by Netanyahu. He said denaturalization violated the most basic principles of the rule of law, including acting against people who had completed prison sentences.
“The Israeli government is seeking to strip individuals of their citizenship, the basis on which all rights are protected,” he said in a statement Thursday, according to the Associated Press. he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
