On Thursday, November 7, the Israeli Parliament adopted a law allowing the expulsion to the Gaza Strip of close relatives of people who have committed crimes. “terrorist attacks” in the country, a text denounced by defenders of the rights of the Arab minority.
The legislation, introduced by parliamentarian Almog Cohen, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Force) party, authorizes the Minister of the Interior to expel relatives of “terrorists” (…) “If they knew in advance of the plans for terrorist attacks, but did not do everything in their power to prevent them from being carried out.”.
The Minister of the Interior will also have the power “expel family members who express support for terrorism or publish statements praising or encouraging acts of terrorism or a terrorist organization”. These Israeli citizens could be expelled for a period of between seven and fifteen years, and permanent or temporary residents for a period of between ten and twenty years.
“Collective punishment” for Palestinians
This law, supported for years by the far right, aims, according to its promoters, to deter Arab citizens of Israel, who live in Israel and annexed East Jerusalem, from carrying out anti-Israeli attacks. “Starting today, any parent, child, brother, sister or spouse who identifies and supports a family member who has harmed citizens of Israel will be deported.”Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security and leader of the Jewish Force party, said in a statement.
A spokesman for Cohen told AFP that the law would apply to the family of anyone who has committed a terrorist attack, not necessarily those who have been convicted in court, and would act as a quick procedure. It did not specify how these families would be sent to Gaza, a territory besieged and devastated by more than a year of war after the bloody Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. According to the latest report published on Thursday by the Health According to the Hamas government ministry in Gaza, 43,469 people have died in the Palestinian territory since that date.
Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel, denounced a “dangerous escalation in Israeli legislative repression of Palestinian rights, under the pretext of the fight against terrorism”. In a press release, the organization also criticized a “collective punishment” Palestinians, believing that the law went against international law because it reinforced “two-tier legal system” Israeli.
