From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Knesset panel readies bill to deport relatives of terrorists, as MK slams legal reservations
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The Knesset House Committee is currently preparing a bill to allow the government to strip citizenship or residency and deport relatives of terrorists for the second and third readings necessary for it to become law.
According to the proposal, the interior minister will be granted the authority, following a hearing, to order the deportation of a relative of a terrorist who knew of the plans in advance and expressed sympathy and encouragement for such a course of action.
Addressing the committee, a representative of the Attorney General’s Office states that a pattern of behavior ought to be necessary to implement the law, which he says “should be established as a temporary order for the current war.”
“Stop looking at the rights of the terrorists and look at the Israeli cemeteries that are being filled by these attacks,” says committee chairman Ofir Katz (Likud).
“We are at war, they are slaughtering us and we have no deterrence against them. If the terrorist knew that as soon as he goes to McDonald’s in Beersheba and shoots a policewoman his parents would subsequently be deported, it might have made him think twice.”
On Sunday, Ahmad al-Uqbi, a Bedouin citizen of Israel, killed Border Police officer Shira Suslik and wounded 10 others in a shooting at Beersheba’s central bus station.
Following the attack, Transportation Minister Miri Regev and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir both called to deport the families of terrorists, even those who have Israeli citizenship.
The Times of Israel Community.