Israel revokes citizenship of thousands of Arab-Israelis

Israel’s Interior Ministry is changing the status of scores of Israeli Arabs from “citizens” to “inhabitants,” stripping them of many rights, because of a registration error.

Israeli Arab women sit next to the rubble of their homes razed by Israeli bulldozers in southern Negev desert.
File photo

Israeli Arab women sit next to the rubble of their homes razed by Israeli bulldozers in southern Negev desert.

Israeli authorities have revoked the citizenship of thousands of Israeli Arabs in Negev desert region over the past years.

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israel’s Interior Ministry is changing the status of these Arab-Israelis from “citizens” to “inhabitants”, stripping them of many rights.

The Israeli government says it’s because of a registration error.

But entire communities are being uprooted from their homes, leaving these people stateless.

Hassan Hamaiti, who is one of the affectees, says he is clueless as to what is going on.

“They didn’t give any reasons. I didn’t do anything, I didn’t cause any problems. I just changed my ID card and they withdrew the citizenship. Without saying anything.”

TRT World’s Rahul Radhakrishnan has more.

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