Interior minister bans senior Hamas operative from leaving the country

Aryeh Deri signs order preventing Muhammad Fawzi Suleiman Arnout from traveling abroad, due to alleged terrorist activities

By ToI Staff 22 November 2018, 1:45 pm
The Allenby Bridge border crossing seen from the Jordanian side. (Courtesy Abutoum, Wikipedia)

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri on Thursday signed an order banning senior Hamas operative Muhammad Fawzi Suleiman Arnout from leaving the country for six months.

According to a statement issued by his ministry, Deri reviewed intelligence materials that stated that Arnout used trips abroad to promote terrorist activities.

The ministry said that Deri had therefore decided that allowing Arnout to leave the country constituted a threat to national security.

No further details of Arnout’s alleged activities were given in the statement.

Shas party leader and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri at the Knesset in Jerusalem on November 19, 2018, during a special plenum session in memory of late Minister of Religious Affairs David Azoulay. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

On Tuesday, police said they were recommending indictments against Deri, who heads the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, on charges of fraud, breach of trust, obstructing court proceedings, money laundering, and tax offenses involving millions of shekels, some of which were committed while he was a cabinet minister.

A report earlier on Thursday said Deri allegedly withheld some NIS two million ($540,000) from tax authorities.

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