Interior Minister Aryeh Deri asked the attorney general Wednesday to revoke the citizenship of two Palestinian terrorists who killed an IDF soldier 40 years ago.
Brothers Maher and Karim Younis murdered Cpl. Avraham Bromberg in 1980 while he was on his way home, and the two are expected to be released from prison in the coming days after serving four decades behind bars.
"It’s unthinkable that these kinds of people will continue to hold Israeli citizenship,” he said in a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
“Canceling their citizenship will send an important message when it comes to those who have become symbols of committing terrorist and criminal acts. This [move] has legal validity in circumstances when people use their Israeli citizenship to harm the State of Israel and its citizens," Deri added.
According to the indictment, the two terrorists assaulted the 20-year-old soldier, snatched his personal weapon, shot him in the head and left him by the side of the road to die. He was transferred to Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead four days later on December 1, 1980.
The authority of the interior Minister currently allows him to revoke the citizenship of terrorists and deport them only if they have additional citizenship besides the Israeli one.
They are normally deported to their place of origin, whether it is to the West Bank or to European countries. The new government intends to change this, but in the meantime, it is legally complicated and requires the support of the attorney general.