​​A special committee to discuss the bill for “Revoking the Citizenship or Residency Status of a Terrorist Operative Receiving Compensation for Committing an Act of Terrorism (Legislative Amendments)” began its deliberations on Tuesday to prepare the bill for its first reading.

MK Youssef Atawne (Hadash-Ta’al) during at the Knesset plenum (Photo: Knesset)
 
At the start of the meeting, far-right Committee Chair MK Ofir Katz (Likud) said “It is inconceivable that the absurd situation will continue in which terrorists commit acts of terror, get paid by the Palestinian Authority and then return to live amongst us​. Let them go to Gaza and Ramallah, not here with us. There is a very broad consensus among members of Knesset to advance the legislation; I don’t know what reflects the will of the public more than that.”

Adv. Tomer Rosner, the committee’s legal advisor, said “Citizenship is one of the basic rights, but, as a court ruling has already determined, citizenship requires loyalty.”

However, MK Youssef Atawne (Hadash-Ta’al) said, “Citizenship is a fundamental matter, not a favor someone is doing. Our citizenship derives from the fact that we are natives of this place; no one is doing us a favor.” MK Atawne discussed in this regard the 2015 murder of three members of the Dawabsheh family by an Israeli settler in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=24796