Israeli parliament passes law to deport relatives of ‘terrorists’

  News|Israel-Palestine conflict

Israeli parliament passes law to

 deport relatives of ‘terrorists’

Family members could be deported for expressing support for or withholding information about a ‘terror’ incident.

The Israeli parliament has given its final approval to controversial legislation that allows the government to deport the family members of so-called “terrorists”, including its own citizens, to the Gaza Strip and other locations.

As the bill cleared the two required final plenum readings on Thursday, lawmakers in the Knesset approved the law – which would apply to Palestinian citizens of Israel as well – by 61 votes in favour to 41 against.

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Sponsored by Hanoch Milwidsky, a politician with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, the legislation gives the interior minister power to deport a first-degree relative of alleged attackers.

The parents, siblings or spouses of a so-called “terrorist” can be sent away from Israel in case they are deemed to have “expressed support or identification” or have failed to report information about “an act of terrorism or a terrorist organisation”.

Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said, “All Palestinian factions are labelled as terrorist organisations by Israel,” adding that “any expression of sympathy with the victims of the war in Gaza has been labelled as an expression of support for terror, especially in the past year.”

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The law would also apply to residents of occupied East Jerusalem, but it was still unclear if it would apply in the occupied West Bank. Israeli citizens could be deported as well, but would retain their citizenship even after being expelled from the country.

Suspects will have the right to present a defence at hearings convened by the interior minister, who will have 14 days to make a decision and sign a deportation order.

The expelled people would be sent to Gaza or other destinations for between 7-15 years for citizens and 10-20 years for legal residents.