Controversial Bill Allows Israel To Deport Relatives of Palestinian Attackers
Israel’s Knesset passed a law allowing the deportation of Palestinian terrorists’ relatives to Gaza. Critics call it politically motivated, and legal challenges are expected, arguing it violates human rights and lacks judicial oversight
By Keren Setton/ The Media Line
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a bill early Thursday that allows the country to deport family members of Palestinian terrorists, including Arab citizens of Israel, to the Gaza Strip or other locations.
The bill was brought forward by several members of the Knesset (MKs) and was approved overnight, as the opposition tried to stall its approval with a filibuster. The law passed with a large majority of 61 of the 120 Knesset seats; 41 MKs voted against it. The law will likely be challenged at Israel’s Supreme Court.
According to the law, if the Interior Minister believes a family member of a terrorist knew of his intention in advance and did not take any measures to prevent the attack, he can order the relative to be deported to Gaza or another location. The relative will be summoned to a hearing before the decision. It also allows for deportation in cases of voicing support and praise for the attack after it occurred. The deportation will be for a period of between 7 to 20 years and is meant to deter potential terrorists from carrying out attacks. Israeli citizens who will be deported under the law will be allowed to retain citizenship.
“This law does not uphold to any legal standard,” Oded Feller, the legal advisor to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), told The Media Line. “It is a populist move made by politicians who couldn’t care less for the law or any legal counsel.”
The law applies to Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed but has not granted its Arab residents citizenship, although they can apply for it. It also applies to a person with a permit to reside in Israel either temporarily or permanently. The status of the law towards Palestinians who live in the West Bank, many under Palestinian Authority (PA) rule, is unclear. Israel already has a longstanding policy of demolishing the homes of attackers, a questionable policy that has limited efficacy.
Palestinians, both holders of Israeli citizenship and not, have carried out many stabbing, shooting, and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years. This has challenged Israel’s security apparatus, which has struggled to thwart attacks carried out by solitary assailants, often unaffiliated with any terrorist organization, keeping them largely under the radar.
“Israeli criminal law already has the tools to deal with such offenses in a serious manner,” said Feller. “There is no void and no necessity.”
Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians claim these territories for their future state, while the current Israeli government sees them as an integral part of the Jewish state. Most of the international community, supported by international law, sees Israeli settlement of the territories as illegal. In 2005, Israel withdrew its Jewish settlers and military presence from the Gaza Strip. Still, since the current Hamas-Israel war began on October 7th, 2023, Israel has regained control of part of the territory.
Arab-Israelis, or Palestinian-Israelis, make up around 20% of the country’s population. They have citizenship and the right to vote but encounter widespread discrimination.
“This law is aimed at signaling to the Arab citizens of Israel that they are here conditionally and can be easily subject to all sorts of punishments,” said Feller.
Many have close family ties in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israeli Jews often accuse them of being loyal to the Palestinian cause, as many express sympathy for the armed struggle against it.
“This is a historic step in the fight against terror,” read a statement by Almog Cohen, one of the MKs who proposed the law. “It is a major step in strengthening the deterrence and ensuring the safety of the people of Israel through aggressive punishment.”
“Any relative of a terrorist who supports terrorism will be deported with contempt and humiliation,” the statement continued.
Yehonatan Tsor was a 33-year-old army commander who was killed on October 7th, 2023, as he fought Hamas terrorists who stormed Israel’s southern border and carried out a deadly rampage that killed 1200 Israelis and wounded thousands of others while taking over 250 people hostage. Since then, his father’s wife, Iris Berstein, who had raised him since he was 13 years old, has become an activist in the Gvura Forum who wants Israel to fight relentlessly for complete victory over Hamas by applying increased military pressure on the terrorist group.
“Our blood has been forfeited,” Bernstein told The Media Line. “Any Arab can go out and butcher us, and there is nothing that is stopping them. All the normal people of Israel feel like this. This is a basic law—no decent country would allow traitors to stay in it.”
Israeli media reported that the country’s secret service, the Shin Bet, expressed reservations about the law in sealed Knesset discussions. The Knesset legal counsel and the Ministry of Justice reportedly also voiced their opposition to it.
“The law is against basic human rights,” Feller explained. “This is an unfathomable blow against citizens. If someone violated the law, they must be tried by an independent court and not sentenced to deportation by a political figure such as the interior minister. It also cannot be implemented as no country is obligated to accept these people.”
For proponents, the law provides a critical, and up until now, missing tool in the fight against terrorism.
When the current far-right government was sworn in in late 2022, it attempted to legislate a widespread judiciary reform. The move sparked a large wave of protests in the country but was later shelved as the war broke out. One of the goals of the reform was to curb the Supreme Court’s influence in interfering with Knesset legislation.
“If the court will strike the law––this is a shame on Israel,” said Bernstein. “The people will see once again how the court rules the country and has accumulated immense power.”
In the past, attempts to legislate such a bill were postponed because lawmakers were concerned the courts would strike it. The current public atmosphere, which has seen Israel at war for over a year, motivated the current Knesset session to move forward with the legislation. But a scenario in which the Supreme Court would strike the law could also happen now, as there are likely to be petitions against it.
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