Israel has passed legislation allowing the state to revoke the citizenship or residency of Arabs convicted of terrorism and deport them to the West Bank or Gaza Strip if they have accepted financial aid from the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Knesset voted 94-10 in favour of the law on Wednesday, with Jewish lawmakers overwhelmingly supporting it and Arab members opposing.
The law targets what Israel calls “pay for slay” stipends, which the PA provides to families of prisoners. Israel argues this incentivises violence, while Palestinians view it as assistance for families affected by imprisonment. An explanatory note stated it is unacceptable for those who “betrayed the state” and received PA payments to retain citizenship or residency.
According to Israeli rights group HaMoked, the law could affect 140 Israeli citizens of Palestinian heritage and 211 Palestinians from East Jerusalem with Israeli residency permits currently in jail. Deporting East Jerusalem residents, annexed by Israel in 1967, would be considered a war crime under international law, with critics calling it a population transfer.
Opposition leader Ahmad Tibi, head of the Ta’al party, called the law racist for not applying to Jewish terrorists. “If a Jew commits the same offence or a more serious one, they don’t even think of revoking his citizenship,” he said. Kadoura Fares of the Palestinian prisoners’ club described it as a “very dangerous decision” aimed at transferring Palestinians under the pretext of receiving PA assistance.
The law builds on a 2018 measure allowing Israel to withhold funds equivalent to PA payments to prisoner families. Last year, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled citizenship could be revoked for “breach of loyalty” acts including terrorism. In a legal first, Israel recently deported Salah Hamouri, a dual Palestinian-French lawyer from East Jerusalem, under this definition.
