A law providing for the deportation to the Gaza Strip of close relatives of people who have committed terrorist attacks in the country was approved by the Israeli parliament (Knesset) on Thursday, November 7, a text denounced by defenders of the rights of the Arab minority.

The bill, introduced by lawmaker Almog Cohen, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, allows the interior minister to deport family members of “terrorists (…) whether they knew in advance of plans for terrorist attacks but did not do everything they could to prevent them from being committed.”

Also, the interior minister will have the power to “expel family members who express their support for terrorism or make public statements glorifying or encouraging terrorist acts or a terrorist organization.”

Israeli citizens will be able to be deported from seven to fifteen years, and permanent or temporary residents from ten to twenty years.

The law, which has been supported for years by the far-right, is intended, according to its supporters, to deter Arab citizens of Israel living in Israel and annexed East Jerusalem from committing anti-Israeli attacks.

A spokesman for Cohen told AFP that the law would apply to the family of anyone who had committed a terrorist attack, not necessarily to those convicted by a court, and would be an expedited process.

He did not specify how the families would be sent to Gaza, the Palestinian enclave devastated after more than a year of war following Hamas’ bloody offensive in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

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