
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed today (Wednesday) in a letter he sent to Minister Orit Strock that he has appealed several times to the office of the head of the Shin Bet to implement the law that makes it possible to deprive terrorists of citizenship, but his appeals have gone unanswered so far.
Kan News reported that Gallant's words were written in response to a query sent to him by Minister Strock claiming that the IDF does not provide the required information to the Minister of the Interior, according to the Law for Revocation of Citizenship or Residency of a Terrorist so that the Minister of the Interior can initiate a procedure to revoke citizenship or residency from terrorists who receive a salary from the Palestinian Authority.
The Minister of Defense replied that it is not the Ministry of Defense that is entrusted with the implementation of the citizenship revocation law, but the Shin Bet, which is the agency that is authorized to pass on the information about each terrorist regarding the salary he receives from the Palestinian Authority, but despite Gallant's appeal to the head of the Shin Bet, this has not yet been done.
"Due to the importance of the law, my ministry has appealed several times to the office of the head of the Shin Bet with a request that they pass on the required information and promote the law and we hope that this will happen as soon as possible," Gallant wrote to Strock.
According to the law, a convicted terrorist will be deprived of his citizenship or residency if he receives financial compensation from the Palestinian Authority. The Shin Bet is required to provide the evidence that the terrorist does receive the same salary from the Palestinian Authority.
The Shin Bet responded: "For the discussions that preceded the enactment of the law, and in the discussions themselves, the position of the Shin Bet was presented, in writing and orally, according to which it supports the principle underlying the law, and that it is another tool in the toolbox for the fight against terrorism. The law does not determine the identity of the party entrusted with collecting the information and presenting it to the Minister of the Interior. From a review of the conditions required for the examination, it appears that the information regarding the existence of some of the circumstances was created and managed by other authorities, and was collected by another intelligence authority."
"The Shin Bet intends to bring to the Minister of the Interior requests to exercise the authority given to him by virtue of the law, in the appropriate cases. We note that the Shin Bet's request to the Minister of the Interior to use his authority pursuant to Section 11A of the Law on Entry into Israel, and to revoke the residency of a Hamas operative from the Jerusalem area, was recently approved. A number of similar requests are in various stages of approval."