The US Justice Department said Thursday it was seeking to revoke the citizenship of a naturalized Palestinian man who hid his support for the Hamas terror group and his conviction in Israel related to that support from American immigration authorities.
The department said it had filed a lawsuit against Abdul Jabbar Naji Shalabi, 39 and a resident of Michigan, to revoke his US citizenship.
It said that while studying at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank in 2002, Shalabi was arrested by Israeli authorities for concealing acetone — used in making bombs — on behalf of a Hamas bomb maker. He was jailed and later released, and became a US citizen in 2005.
It said Shalabi lied about his assistance for Hamas and about his arrest and conviction.
“The Department of Justice is deeply committed to investigating and prosecuting individuals who defraud the American people and government by concealing their material support for terrorists,” Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt said.
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