On January 25, 2017,
Minister of Interior Deri announced he had revoked the status in Israel of 11 relatives of the perpetrator of the January 8, 2017 attack at Armon HaNatziv, Jerusalem. Thus far, HaMoked has received status revocation notices concerning five of the seven relative it represents:
The assailant’s mother, age 63, Israeli resident, mother of eight and grandmother of Israeli residents, living in Jerusalem for the past 31 years;
The assailant’s nephew, age 22, living with his family in Jerusalem for the past nine years pursuant to stay permits given in the framework of the family unification procedure;
The sister-in-law, married to the assailant’s brother, mother of eight, the youngest two months old, living with her family in Jerusalem for the past 21 years pursuant to stay permits given in the framework of the family unification procedure;
The brother-in-law, married for 27 years to the assailant’s sister, father of six, trained as a dentist, living with his family in Jerusalem for the past 14 years pursuant to stay permits given in the framework of the family unification procedure;
The assailant’s nephew, age 26, living with his family in Jerusalem for the past 14 years pursuant to stay permits given in the framework of the family unification procedure.
Despite
HaMoked’s objection to the expedited proceeding of revoking the relatives’ status in Israel and the inherently wrongful nature of the decision – founded on extraneous considerations and based only on the family ties to an assailant – the Minister of Interior has condemned these innocent people to be deported from their homes and cut off from their families and communities.
On January 26, 2017, the Appeals Tribunal issued
temporary orders suspending the Minister of Interior’s decision for the time being. The state was given seven days to respond.
