Israel weighing revoking residency of BDS leader

Israeli authorities have refused to renew the travel documents of a leader of a campaign to boycott the Jewish state, officials say Tuesday.

Omar Barghouti is one of the most prominent campaigners in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which campaigns for a global boycott of Israel until, among other demands, the country withdraws the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel sees it as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism — a claim BDS denies.

Barghouti was informed last month that the Interior Ministry would not renew his travel documents, which are usually granted to permanent residents of Israel who do not have full citizenship.

An interior ministry spokeswoman tells AFP that Barghouti could not yet receive his travel documents since Interior Minister Aryeh Deri was considering revoking his permanent residency.

“The minister wants to consider his status. He lives in Ramallah most of the time and part of what determines one’s permanent residency is where the center of life is,” she says. “His (BDS) activities are also part of this.”

Barghouti, whose family are Palestinian but who was born in the Gulf state of Qatar, married an Israeli citizen of Arab descent, entitling him to claim permanent residency. Barghouti denied that he had ever been permanently based in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

— AFP