Israeli minister praises PMW for role in preparing law to strip citizenship from Israeli Arab terrorists receiving PA terror salaries
Israeli Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Avi Dicter speaks at the Israeli Parliament plenum about a newly passed law to strip Israeli Arab terrorists of their Israeli citizenship, which was pioneered by PMW – see note below.
Israeli Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Avi Dicter: “The problem was a very serious problem: Israeli [Arabs] who engage in terror, including those who murdered Israelis, receive a status of Palestinian Authority employee the day they enter prison in Israel, from the day of their arrest until the end of their lives. Whether in prison or outside of prison, they are PA employees because they are terrorists. Here I owe a word of praise to the Palestinian Media Watch institute and to the person responsible for legal matters there [PMW Director of Legal Strategies] Maurice Hirsch, who truly invested day and night to gather the information that truly shines light on a phenomenon that we have been living alongside for years, and allowing it to pass.”
[Israeli Parliament Channel (Israeli public TV), Feb. 15, 2023]
Israeli law to strip citizenship from Israeli Arab terrorists receiving PA terror salaries - Legislation pioneered by PMW that classifies convicted Israeli Arab terrorists who are serving a prison sentence, and who ask for and receive a salary from the PA as a reward for their acts of terror, as having waived their Israeli citizenship or residency status. The legislation, which was passed on Feb. 15, 2023, is based on the idea that the PA pays Arab terrorists financial rewards as their "soldiers," and the terrorists also see themselves as Palestinian soldiers. The legislation reflects, inter alia, provisions in the twelve European countries by which joining a foreign army is grounds for stripping citizenship. It also reflects the provisions of Article 8 of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1961, which provides that countries may strip someone of their citizenship if they act in a manner inconsistent with their duty of loyalty to the country and specifically receive payments from a foreign entity in breach of an express prohibition of the national law. It also applies to those acting "in a manner seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the State," or taking an oath of "allegiance to another State." Receiving the PA's terror salaries is specifically prohibited by sections 31 and 32 of Israel Anti-Terror Law, 2016. The request to receive those payments is a clear declaration of allegiance to the Palestinians and a rejection of any Israeli status.