Israeli
Minister Threatens to Strip Israeli Arabs of Citizenship
 |
|
Ultra
Orthodox Party leader, Eli Yishai (2nd L), is
taking an extreme step that contravenes international treaties
signed by Israel |
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, Aug 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – In an
unprecedented threat, Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai told
Israeli army radio Tuesday, August 6, he intended to strip Israeli
Arabs involved in what he described as "terrorist
activities" of their citizenship.
Yishai,
leader of the ultra Orthodox Shas Party, defended his plans to strip
two Israeli Arab citizens - one in jail and the other in Lebanon - of
their Israeli citizenship, and to cancel the permanent residency
status of a third Arab, on the grounds that all three harmed state
security, the Israeli daily newspaper, Ha’aretz, reported.
"This
is a precedent-setting step," Yishai conceded on army radio,
"Someone can't have citizenship and enjoy all its benefits and at
the same time be a threat to the existence of the state of
Israel."
Yishai's
move would leave the Israeli Arabs without any nationality and
contravene international treaties signed by Israel on the issue,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Israeli
Arabs make up 1.1 million out of Israel's total population of around
6.4 million.
Two
weeks ago, Yishai sent letters to all three - Kais Hassan Kamal Obeid
in Lebanon, Haned Abu Kishak in Shikma Prison, and Shadi Shurfa in
Nafha Prison – threatening them he was considering revoking their
Israeli citizenship in accordance with the Citizenship Law, Ha’aretz
said.
In
his letter to Obeid, Yishai said his threat was based on information
that Obeid is allegedly a Hezbollah activist and had been involved in
what he described as "attempts to lure and kidnap Israeli
citizens to Lebanon."
Obeid's attorney David Deri sent a letter to Yishai last week in which
he asked how the minister expects Obeid's family to notify him of the
contents of the letter, since any attempt to contact him would
constitute a crime. Therefore, Deri said, the family had no intention
of doing so, said Ha’aretz.
Deri said this is not the way to inform someone that his citizenship
was being revoked unless there was no intention that he receive
notification. Deri suggested that Yishai use the services of the
defense establishment, which, he said, had the means to transmit
messages to parties across the border.
If the minister intended to ask Obeid's family to transmit the letter
to Kais Obeid, then he would have to provide them with all necessary
authorizations for them to do so.
Yishai has been looking for a way to use his authority on the issue
ever since taking over the ministry.
"Maybe those people who decide to act against the state will
think twice if they know their citizenship is going to be
stripped," Yishai said Tuesday, adding that he was ready to
"strip the citizenship of ten [Israeli Arabs] and more."
For a number of months, Yishai has been trying to move ahead with the
plan, but has been rebuffed by the State Attorney's office, which has
told him bluntly that it is an extreme step, never used in the past by
ministers. In addition, according to the state attorney, Israel has
signed international treaties forbidding it to take citizenship away
from individuals, thereby leaving them with no citizenship.
But Yishai argued, "If the law empowers me, there must be ways to
do it."
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was critical of the plan Tuesday, saying
that he did not believe it would withstand the scrutiny of the High
Court of Justice. "I would be very, very careful," Peres
said, when asked on Israeli army radio about Yishai's intentions.
"People should be tried and punished but their citizenship should
not be stripped."
MK Ahmed Tibi said that Yishai's move "is part of the general
atmosphere of assault on the Arab public. This is a continuation of
the nationalistic jingoism that brings about racist anti-Arab laws.
Would Yishai consider lifting citizenship from Jews who harmed state
security, from Mordechai Vanunu, for example? Or the youths from Adura
who sold weapons to the Palestinians?"
Asked this exact question on army radio, Yishai was evasive.
|
|
|
