Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked is backing down from her intention to pass the law revoking the citizenship of terrorists, the Israel Hayom website reported on Monday.
Shaked backed down from the law, which had already been registered, after a conversation between her associates and the Ministry of Justice revealed that the law would not stand the test of the Supreme Court.
Under the original bill, an Israeli citizen convicted of a terrorist act and found to be receiving terrorist benefits from the Palestinian Authority (PA) will lose his Israeli citizenship. Instead, he will be referred to apply to a Palestinian Arab passport since his actions were testimony to the fact that he is loyal to the PA and not to the State of Israel.
Shaked has pledged several times throughout the year she has been in office that she will pass the law. However, those around her say that the Ministry of Justice has made it clear in preliminary discussions that the Supreme Court will invalidate the law as it is currently worded, and that the prosecution does not intend to defend it when the petitions against it are submitted to the Supreme Court.
Instead of revoking citizenship, Shaked now intends to promote in legislation the denial of benefits to Israelis convicted of terrorist activity.
This is despite the fact that a similar law already exists and is partially implemented. In addition, additional options are being considered to lower the status of Israeli terrorists, but at this stage no legislative proceedings will be initiated, until a Supreme Court ruling on the issue, which is expected in the next two months.