Adalah’s Response to Israeli Ministers’ Announcement to Advance Deportation of Hundreds of Palestinian Citizens of Israel on Grounds of “Terrorism”

28/05/2025

Adalah: This is an unprecedented act of state violence against Palestinian citizens and their very existence in Israel.

Today, 28 May 2025, the Israeli government announced that it would begin deporting Palestinian citizens of Israel, in an alarming and unprecedented escalation in Israel’s campaign of racial persecution.

According to media outlets, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Coalition Chair Ofir Katz, and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel have publicly declared that four individuals were already in advanced stages of revocation of citizenship and deportation proceedings, with hundreds more being targeted.

The government is reportedly advancing these measures under a 2023 amendment to the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, which authorizes the revocation of the citizenship or permanent residency of individuals convicted of an offense that constitutes an “act of terrorism” as defined by Israel’s overly broad-Counter Terrorism Law or other specified offenses, and that according to the interior minister, received monetary benefits from the Palestinian Authority.

Adalah has long warned against and legally challenged the use of such draconian laws, which exclusively target Palestinians. In 2022, Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to strike down an earlier law allowing for the revocation of citizenship. The court ultimately upheld this law, giving the state sweeping powers to strip Palestinians of their most basic rights. While the court upheld the law, it ruled that the Interior Minister is obligated to grant permanent residency status in place of citizenship. In direct defiance of this obligation, the Knesset passed an even more extreme law in 2023, authorizing the Minister to revoke citizenship and deport individuals from Israel, without granting any legal status, if he claims they received compensation from the PA. Read more: https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10693

On revocation of citizenship and residency: https://www.972mag.com/citizenship-residency-revocation-explainer/
On the 2023 law: https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10791

Adalah commented:

“Israel’s announcement that it will revoke the citizenship of Palestinian citizens of Israel and deport them from their homeland constitutes a brutal assault on their most fundamental rights. Stripping individuals of their legal status, even if it renders them stateless, violates fundamental rights and international law. This move enforces a two-tiered legal system that exclusively targets Palestinians and turns citizenship into an additional form of punishment. This is an unprecedented act of state violence against us and our very existence in Israel.”