The Israeli Supreme Court’s upholding today of a law that allows the Minister of Interior to request revocation of citizenship is feared aimed at Palestinian-Israeli citizens.

An expanded seven-justice panel of the Israeli Supreme Court accepted an appeal filed by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) against the Haifa District Court’s 2017 decision, which confirmed the Interior Minister’s request to revoke the citizenship of Alaa Zayoud, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from Umm el-Fahem.

However, the Supreme Court upheld the law upon which the Minister relied in his decision to revoke Zayoud’s citizenship.

The law authorizes the Interior Minister, with district court approval, to revoke the citizenship of Israeli citizens convicted of offenses that constitute a “breach of loyalty” to the state.

Former Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher and ACRI Attorney Oded Feller filed the appeal on behalf of Alaa Zayoud.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court noted that there was “no constitutional defect in the arrangement that allows the revocation of the citizenship of a person who committed an act that constitutes a breach of loyalty in the State of Israel, such as: an act of terrorism; an act of treason or serious espionage; or the acquisition of citizenship or the right of permanent residency in a hostile state or in hostile territory. This is so, even if as a result of the revocation of his citizenship, the individual becomes stateless, provided that if the individual becomes stateless, the Interior Minister must grant him a status of permanent residence in Israel or another designated status.”

The Supreme Court rejected the organizations’ argument that this law is being applied in a selective and discriminatory manner exclusively against Palestinian citizens of Israel. Since the enactment of the law in 2008, the possibility of revocation of citizenship was considered in 31 cases, none of which involved a Jewish-Israeli citizen.

However, Chief Justice Esther Hayut noted in her ruling that since only 3 requests for revocation of citizenship were submitted by the Interior Minister to Israeli courts for approval, it is insufficient to point to a pattern of discrimination.

The Supreme Court rejected the organizations’ argument despite the fact that they provided the court with a number of serious incidents in which Israeli Jewish citizens attacked Palestinians following the enactment of this law that did not result in any requests for revocation of citizenship.

Adalah and ACRI responded: “Although the Israeli Supreme Court did not allow the revocation of citizenship of two Palestinian citizens of Israel in the cases before it and upheld the principle that a person cannot be left without status, the Court’s decision is very dangerous as it also upholds the constitutionality of this “breach of loyalty” law. This decision paves the way for the continued use of this illegitimate law, contrary to international law. The Supreme Court reached this decision, although it acknowledged in the ruling that no such law exists in any other country in the world. The current case indicates that the law is discriminatory and will likely be used exclusively against Palestinian citizens of Israel.”

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency