Interior minister to revoke residency of Gazan indicted for terror plot
Aryeh Deri says Palestinian living in Israel for past 16 years on humanitarian grounds to be stripped of permit, vows to fight those who abuse their status
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri announced Thursday that he will revoke the residency permit of a Gaza man indicted for being part of a terror plot.
Hani M’suad Nasir Abu Amrah, 40, a Gazan who has lived in the southern Israeli town of Tel Sheva for the past 16 years after being granted Israeli citizenship under the family reunification program, was one of four members of a terror cell that allegedly planned to carry out a terror attack at a wedding hall in Beersheba and also kidnap and kill an IDF soldier to use his remains as a bargaining chip against Israel.
Family reunification in Israel typically involves an Israeli citizen requesting citizenship for his or her non-Israeli spouse. Most unification applications are submitted by Israeli Arabs on behalf of a Palestinian spouse living in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.
The terror cell included three other men from the Gaza Strip, two of whom were residing in Israel illegally, including one who worked at the targeted Narnia wedding venue, the Shin Bet security agency revealed Thursday. Southern state prosecutors filed indictments against the men at the Beersheba District Court Thursday.
Deri said Abu Amrah’s residency permit would be revoked, adding that he would fight “seriously and uncompromisingly” against “situations whereby residents take advantage of their status to try to carry out a terror attack and kill Israeli citizens.
“I will take all legal steps and measures against those who wish to commit terror,” Deri stated.
The process of family reunification for Palestinians has been suspended in recent years due to concerns it was being abused by terror groups to gain access to Israel.
The Shin Bet said the plot “once again stresses the manner in which terror groups take advantage of the permits to enter Israel, which are given for humanitarian and economic reasons. And also the risk posed to the presence in Israel of Palestinians who don’t have a permit to be there.”
