Interior Minister and deputy prime minister, Silvan Shalom, has instructed Israel's Population and Immigration Authority to begin the process of revoking the residency status of two terrorists who conducted attacks inthe last week.
The authority began the process of revoking the residency status of two East Jerusalem residents in recent days: Subhi Abu Khalifa from Shuafat – who carried out the Thursday attack near the Israeli Police national headquarters in Jerusalem, and Shuruk Dawiyat – who carried out the attack on Hagai st. in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
The decision was made according the Interior Minister's authority under the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law. If the process is completed, the two attackers will be prevented from receiving social benefits, including those afforded by the National Insurance institute. These include medical insurance and ease of medical care.
Article 11 of the temporary order (Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law,) provides the minister with the authority to revoke residency. This authority has been invoked several times in the past against those who carried out terror attacks against the state of Israel.
In 2005, then interior minister Ophir Pines used the authority to revoke the status of four permanent residents who belong to the Silwan cell, which was directly involved in several terror attacks.
One of the attacks
In 2006, then minister Roni Bar-On, decided to revoke the status of four permanent residents- three of whom were elected to the Palestinian party on behalf of Hamas. One of whom later served as a Palestinian minister.
"These terrorists clearly broke and severely broke their loyalty to the state of Israel through their attempts to kill innocents, and as such they are not fit to live among us," Shalom said. "We cannot allow terrorists and enemy actors to take advantage of their status as citizens or residents in our country to carry out attacks."
Shalom emphasized that he would act to revoke the citizenship or residency status of anyone who attempted to carry out an attack against Israelis, or for involvement in terrorist acts. We must expel these bloodthirsty killers from among ourselves.