Palestinians leaving Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Nov. 5, 2024. (Credit: Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)
The Israeli Knesset on Thursday passed a law allowing the deportation to the Gaza Strip of close relatives of individuals who have carried out "terrorist attacks" in the country, a text denounced by defenders of the rights of the Arab minority.
The legislation, introduced by MK Almog Cohen, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Force) party, authorizes the interior minister to expel family members of "terrorists ... if they knew in advance of plans for terrorist attacks but did not do everything in their power to prevent them from being carried out."
The interior minister will also have the power "to expel family members who express support for terrorism or issue statements praising or encouraging acts of terrorism or a terrorist organization."
Law supported by Israeli far-right
Israeli citizens could be expelled for between seven and 15 years, and permanent or temporary residents for between 10 and 20 years. The law, which has been supported for years by the far right, is intended, according to its promoters, to dissuade Arab citizens of Israel, living in Israel and annexed East Jerusalem, from carrying out anti-Israeli attacks.
"As of today, any father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister or spouse who identifies with and supports a family member who has harmed citizens of Israel will be expelled," Itamar Ben Gvir, national security minister and head of the Jewish Force party, said in a statement.
'Collective punishment'
A spokesman for Cohen told AFP that the law would apply to the family of any individual who carried out a terrorist attack, not necessarily those who have been convicted in court, and that it would be a quick process. He did not specify how these families would be sent to Gaza, a territory under siege and ravaged by more than a year of war after Hamas' bloody attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel, denounced a "dangerous escalation in Israel's legislative crackdown on Palestinian rights, under the guise of fighting terrorism."
In a statement, the organization also denounced a "collective punishment" of Palestinians, saying the law went against international law because it reinforced Israel's "two-tier legal system."
