Israel approves law to deport Palestinian citizens and residents
Middle East EyeFeb 16, 2023
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.
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.
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.
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.