Minister refuses Ben Gvir request to strip citizenship of allegedly disloyal athletes
Far-right politician’s request came after Maccabi Haifa soccer players declined to grip banner demanding the return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza at start of match
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel has rejected a request from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to strip the citizenship and work visas from soccer players who chose not to hold a sign calling to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to a letter sent by Arbel to Ben Gvir on Sunday.
The incident took place at a recent Maccabi Haifa game when Swedish defender Daniel Sondgren and other players declined to hold an English-language sign demanding the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to Hebrew media.
The Maccabi Haifa office said in a statement that the incident would be investigated and that the foreign players did not “understand the message” of the sign. Most of the players in question are in Israel on work visas and do not in fact have Israeli citizenship.
Arab Israeli players who might have not held the sign are under tremendous pressure from the Muslim community, the team added.
In his letter to Ben Gvir, Arbel wrote: “You don’t strip citizenship from a person because he doesn’t hold a sign, as important as it could be… I recommend that we deal with the important mission of maintaining Israel’s security and less with populism about the sympathies of a rival soccer team.”
Ben Gvir is an outspoken fan of rival club Beitar Jerusalem.
Responding Sunday to Arbel in his usual combative style, Ben Gvir said in a statement: “Freedom of expression can’t cover inciting and supporting terror… civil rights do not mean concessions against the State of Israel or supporting the enemy,” accusing Arbel of seeking publicity and “favorable headlines in [left-wing daily] Haaretz” via his response.
Citizenship is a privilege, Ben Gvir said, and therefore “a state is not obligated to grant citizenship to people, even soccer players. A player who despises the state…[the state] must reconsider the decision to grant him citizenship.”
כוכב העבר של מכבי חיפה, יניב קטן על חלק מהשחקנים שלא הניפו את השלט להשבת החטופים: ״התביישתי לראות הערב שחלק משחקני מכבי חיפה בחרו לא לקחת חלק ולהזדהות עם המצב. להעביר דף ולהגיד הכל בסדר זה הכי גרוע, לתרץ שהם מפחדים אני גם לא קונה. נמאס לי שאנחנו תמיד צריכים להבין את כולם, ולהכיל… pic.twitter.com/JUd4ys6gXj
— Ran Boker רן בוקר (@ranboker) November 25, 2023
לא משנה איך מכבי חיפה תסביר את זה, לא משנה אם יש לזרים תירוץ הגיוני.
התמונה הזאת היא נזק הסברתי לישראל ואסון תקשורתי למכבי חיפה pic.twitter.com/9P75FCcE5e
— Daniel Macdowell (@MacdowellDaniel) November 25, 2023
Arbel has promoted a draft bill to revoke the citizenship of Israelis who publicly identify themselves with terror groups, or who identify with a terror group as incitement to a terror act, which he wrote earlier this month “will be advanced in the coming days.”
Last week, Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar requested that the citizenship of an Israeli athlete who has switched to playing soccer for the Palestinian national team be revoked after he observed a minute of silence for Gaza during a match against Lebanon.
In a similar letter to Ben Gvir’s, Zohar requested that the citizenship of Arab Israeli player Ataa Jaber be revoked due to his “clear identification with terrorists.”
Zohar’s request came after Jaber, who has played for several Israeli teams in the past, including Maccabi Haifa, observed a minute of silence “in solidarity with Palestine,” during a match against Lebanon on November 16.
The minute of silence was held due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught in southern Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and some 240 were taken hostage. In response, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip, which the terror group has ruled since 2007, and launched an offensive from the air as well as a ground campaign.
Israel and Hamas are currently in the midst of a four-day ceasefire, in which groups of Israeli hostages, all women and children, are being released to Israel, in exchange for groups of female and underage Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has said that more than 14,500 Palestinians, including 6,000 children, have been killed since October 7. These numbers cannot be independently verified and are believed to include members of the terror group, as well as civilians killed by misfired rockets, of which hundreds have fallen inside the Strip.
Israeli politicians have in the past made several legislative and legal efforts to strip some Arab Israelis of their citizenship, but usually only for terror offenses or treason.
Critics have branded such attempts as racist, noting that such legislation would not apply to Jewish Israelis convicted of terror offenses.
Stripping convicted terrorists of their citizenship is not unheard of and has been implemented by other Western countries in the past. Legal and security experts, as well as human rights activists, however, have questioned the effectiveness of such measures for improving national security.
Last year, the High Court of Justice ruled that authorities can hypothetically revoke the citizenship of people who carry out terror attacks and commit other crimes that constitute a breach of trust against the State of Israel.
The ruling stated that citizens who carry out such actions can have their citizenship revoked even if they have no other citizenship, but said that the interior minister would then be obligated to provide that person with a residency permit.
The caveat effectively ensures that those impacted by the law retain all rights that a citizen holds except the right to vote, making it similar to laws in over a dozen US states where felons lose their voting rights during their incarceration.
Carrie Keller-Lynn contributed to this report.
