JERUSALEM — In a significant legislative move, Israel’s parliament enacted a controversial law in the early hours of Thursday that grants the government authority to deport the relatives of Palestinian attackers. This includes Israeli citizens and those from annexed east Jerusalem, potentially sending them to the devastated Gaza Strip or other unspecified locations.
The measure, which received backing from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party alongside far-right factions, passed with a vote tally of 61 in favor and 41 against. However, many experts anticipate that the legislation will face legal challenges in the courts.
The law specifically targets Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of east Jerusalem. It focuses on individuals who were aware of their family members’ acts of violence prior to the incidents or who show any form of support or identification with these acts classified as terrorism. Offenders could face deportation lasting from seven to 20 years. As the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict intensifies in Gaza, the humanitarian toll has escalated, with tens of thousands reported dead and many others displaced multiple times due to the fighting.
While the law is clear regarding those in Israel and east Jerusalem, its applicability to the occupied West Bank remains uncertain. Historically, Israel has operated under a policy that demolishes the homes of attackers’ families as a form of collective punishment. In recent years, numerous attacks against Israelis by Palestinians have involved stabbings, shootings, and vehicle assaults.
Experts have voiced concerns regarding the law’s constitutionality. Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute and a previous international law advisor for the Israeli military, noted that if the law is challenged in the Supreme Court, it is likely to be rejected based on existing legal precedents concerning deportation. “Ultimately, this law is fundamentally unconstitutional and contradicts Israel’s foundational values,” he stated.
Israel gained control of Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem during the 1967 war, areas that Palestinians claim for a future independent state. Although Israel disengaged its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, the region has since been reoccupied in the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, which reignited the ongoing conflict.
The annexation of east Jerusalem by Israel has not received recognition from much of the international community. Palestinians residing there hold permanent residency status and can apply for citizenship; however, many opt not to pursue this path, facing numerous challenges if they do. Palestinians within Israel account for about 20% of the population, possessing citizenship and voting rights but contending with pervasive discrimination and often maintaining close familial connections to relatives living in Palestinian territories. Most of them express solidarity with the Palestinian movement.