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Minister seeks to revoke Israeli citizenship of terrorists leaving prison

The cousins served 40 years behind bars and are considered Palestinian celebrities as the longest-serving prisoners.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

New Interior Minister Aryeh Deri is moving to revoke the Israeli citizenship of two terrorists who murdered an Israeli soldier decades ago and are due to leave prison in the coming days. Cancelling their citizenship would enable Israel to deport the two.

Cousins Maher and Karim Younes murdered Cpl. Avraham Bromberg in 1980 as he was on his way to an army base in the Golan. They shot Bromberg, threw him out of a moving car and left him for dead by the side of a road. Bromberg died several days later.

The cousins served 40 years behind bars and are considered Palestinian celebrities as the longest-serving prisoners.

In a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Deri wrote, “It is unthinkable that these people will continue to hold Israeli citizenship. Revoking their citizenship will have an important message, when it comes to those who have become symbols for committing criminal, terrorist acts.”

He added, “These things take on a different validity as far as those who use their Israeli citizenship to harm the State of Israel and its citizens are concerned.”

Whether the Younes cousins can be stripped of their citizenship and deported is questionable. The law currently allows this if the person holds citizenship in a second country. They only hold Israeli citizenship but could potentially be deported to the Palestinian Authority.

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If stripped of their citizenship, they would still be allowed to remain in Israel for a period of time under a different status, such as a temporary resident.

Two bills were recently submitted to the Knesset that would strip the citizenship of anyone receiving a terror stipend from the Palestinian Authority.