What it means when Israel threatens to revoke citizenship
Many Arabs fear that Israel's increasing right-wing tendency will open the way for more laws targeting Arab citizens of Israel.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel's proposal to strip Arabs accused of violence of their Israeli citizenship is angering those who say the plan proves the racism and discrimination practiced against them.
Israeli Interior Minister Silvan Shalom said Oct. 15 that Alaa Ziwad of Umm al-Fahm and Isra Abed of Nazareth should be stripped of their Israeli citizenship. Israeli police accused Ziwad of running over one Israeli and trying to stab three others Oct. 11, an act that he denied during an Oct. 12 trial. Abed died after police shot her Oct. 9 in the town of Afula for allegedly intending to carry out a stabbing. The media later broadcast a video that showed she was standing still when she was shot several times.
Also on Oct. 15, Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced she has started proceedings to strip the citizenship or permanent residency rights of perpetrators of attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers and their families living in the 1948 territories.
Taleb el-Sana, head of the Arab Democratic Party in Israel, told Al-Monitor that threatening to revoke citizenship is an attempt to turn citizenship into “a favor or alms that the government is doing for us and can withdraw whenever it desires."
