JERUSALEM — Israel's parliament passed a law early Thursday that would allow it to deport family members of Palestinian attackers, including the country's own citizens, to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip or other locations. The law, which was championed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and his far-right allies, passed with a 61-41 vote. However, legal experts said that any attempt to implement the legislation would likely lead to it being struck down by Israeli courts.
The law would apply to Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of annexed east Jerusalem who knew about their family members' attacks beforehand or who "express support or identification with the act of terrorism." They would be deported, either to the Gaza Strip or another location, for a period of seven to 20 years. The Israel-Hamas war is still raging in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed and most of the population has been internally displaced, often multiple times.
It was unclear if the law would apply in the occupied West Bank, where Israel already has a long-standing policy of demolishing family homes of attackers, which critics decry as collective punishment. Palestinians have carried out scores of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years. Oded Feller, a legal adviser to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, dismissed the law as "populist nonsense.
" He said it was unlikely to be applied, because there is no legal way for.
