The daughter of a martyr, the brother of a martyr, and the daughter of a freed prisoner are threatened with deportation from Jerusalem
The Israeli Minister of Interior, Moshe Arbel, decided to deport 3 Jerusalemites from the city of Jerusalem, under the pretext of "supporting and endorsing terrorism."
Those threatened with deportation are: prisoner Tasneem Odeh, prisoner Mohammed Abu al-Hawa, and freed prisoner Zeina Barbar.
Interior Minister Arbel said: "I have decided to use my powers under the law to deport three supporters of terrorism and members of the families of terrorists who chose to stand with the enemy in times of war and support the harm inflicted on Israeli citizens" - according to his claim.
Minister Arbel threatened to take these measures against anyone who "supports terrorism."
In November 2024, the Knesset approved a bill stipulating the “deportation of family members of those who carry out armed operations against Israeli targets,” if they had prior knowledge of the operation or glorified and supported the operation after it was carried out. According to the law, the deportation order for “an Israeli citizen” is no less than 7 years and no more than 15 years, and in the case of “a permanent or temporary resident” for a period of no less than 10 years and no more than 20 years.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem said that prisoner Tasneem Odeh was arrested at the end of 2024 and was charged with "praising Hamas and publishing incitement material on social media, and publishing pictures in support of terrorism, including Ismail Haniyeh, Yehya Sinwar, and Zakaria Zbeidi."
Prisoner Odeh is the daughter of the martyr Barakat Odeh, who was killed in 2022 after carrying out a car-ramming attack near Jericho. He is from the town of Ezaryeh and lived in the Shu’fat refugee camp, where his family still lives.
As for the released prisoner Zeina Barbar, she was released in the first batch of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas on January 20, noting that she was arrested in July 2024 and charged with "supporting terrorism and a terrorist organization." She is the daughter of the released prisoner Majd Barbar, who spent 20 years in prison and was released in 2021.
As for the prisoner Mohammad Nasser Abu al-Hawa, he was arrested in mid-August 2024, on charges of "supporting terrorism on social media." He is the brother of the martyr Adam Abu al-Hawa, who was killed at the end of October 2023 after carrying out a stabbing operation on Nablus Street in Jerusalem. His body is still being held.
Last month, the resigned Israeli Minister of Internal Security Itamar Ben Gvir sent a letter to the Minister of the Interior, asking him to activate the "Expulsion of Families of Operations Carriers" law against 3 prisoners who were released during the deal in the first batch, and at the time demanded their deportation to the Gaza Strip.
Regarding this, the lawyer of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Jerusalem, Mohammad Mahmoud, said that the decision of the Minister of Interior is not implemented immediately and directly, and the affected party has the right to submit an objection to the Minister of Interior, and a hearing will be held for him. If the Minister rejects the objection, an "administrative petition" is submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court to reject the deportation decision.
