Israel Passes Law to Revoke Citizenship for Terror Convictions

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Facts

• Israel's Knesset passed a law on Wednesday to permit authorities to strip people of their citizenship or residency if they were jailed and received funds from the Palestinian Authority for actions determined to be terrorism.¹
• The legislation, which passed with a large majority, would largely affect Israeli citizens of Arab descent and Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, who are not considered full Israeli citizens but permanent residents.²
• The bill, which had received wide bipartisan support, passed by a vote of 94-10 in support, with most opposition to it originating from Arab parties.³
• Arab lawmakers in Israel as well as Palestinian officials in the West Bank criticized the new law, deeming it racist because it does not apply to Jews — despite its proponents arguing that those who profit from betraying their own country do not deserve citizenship.⁴
• Most Palestinians generally view prisoners favorably, and the Palestinian Authority considers payments to them and their families as a form of welfare for those in need. However, Israel claims they reward violence and serve as an incentive for others to carry out attacks.⁵
• The Israeli rights group HaMoked estimates that 4.7K Palestinians are imprisoned by Israel for security offenses. Approximately 360 are Israeli citizens or residents of East Jerusalem.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²BBC News, ³Jerusalem Post, ⁴Guardian, ⁵France 24 and ⁶Abc news.

Narratives

• Pro-Palestine, as provided by Middle east eye. This legislation, like many Israeli policies of the past 75 years, has one goal: to advance the Zionist project of disenfranchising and displacing the Palestinian people from their homeland. Arabs were already second-class citizens, and the Knesset continues to codify this reality into Israel's legal system. Such a policy will not affect Jews who commit acts of violence against civilians. Indeed, this policy constitutes a war crime and only strengthens the Israeli apartheid.
• Pro-Israel, as provided by The times of israel. Though the Palestinians love to cry foul whenever Israel implements a common sense policy such as this one, the reality is Israel is being far more lenient to terrorists and traitors than most other countries in the world. In many other countries, if a citizen were to betray their nation, they would be served the death penalty. However, Israel instead has decided that traitors will simply be deported to the West Bank, where they can live with the governing body that pays their salaries. The outrage is just the usual double standard applied to the Jewish state.