Ben-Gvir calls for bill to deport state renegades
Otzma Yehudit MK Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the creation of a deportation law, during an interview on Army Radio on Tuesday.
“When we form the government, I will promote the Deportation Law, which will deport anyone who acts against the State of Israel or IDF soldiers,” Ben-Gvir said in the interview. “Those who throw stones and Molotov cocktails at soldiers will be deported from here. Those who work against the state like [Joint List MK] Ofer Cassif will be deported. Maybe to Europe – they need working hands there.”
However, he said, the same law would not apply to Jews.
“A Jew who throws stones at IDF soldiers will sit in prison for many years [in Israel].”
Jewish violence against Arabs is also terrorism, Ben-Gvir said, adding that he was relying on precedent.
In a petition to knock down the house of the Jewish murderers of Arab-Israeli teenager Muhammad Abu Khadir in 2014 – after terrorists kidnapped three Israeli teenagers and killed them, which eventually led to Operation Protective Edge – three judges ruled that the demolition was not an act of terrorism. BenGvir
argued that this proves Jewish violence against Arabs is not terrorism.
Another person Ben-Gvir said he would deport is Joint List chairman MK Ayman Odeh.
He would deport him “on a train,” he said.
Other than Cassif and Odeh, Ben-Gvir said he would also deport the ultra-Orthodox, anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect.
Meretz candidate Zehava Galon wrote in response, “Racial laws? A Deportation Law and singling out traitors?... It is time to expel Ben-Gvir from the Knesset.”
Galon added on Twitter later on
Tuesday: “Who will this lowly nationalist deport? 200,000 Meretz voters? Prime Minister [Yair] Lapid? Me? Read this headline carefully, send it to your friends and go vote. Our mission is to build an iron barrier [that will block] the Bibi-Ben-Gvir train. They will not deport anyone here to any camp, on any train.”
Yesh Atid responded on Twitter, “This will be the first time in history that an MK passes legislation to deport himself.” The tweet included a screenshot of a news item about Ben-Gvir’s conviction for supporting a terrorist organization in the 1990s. The Otzma Yehudit leader supported the Kach movement led by Rabbi Meir Kahane, which was deemed a terrorist organization.
The Abraham Initiative nonprofit, which promotes equality and integration between Israeli Jews and Arabs, wrote, “The parties seeking to form a government must not legitimize BenGvir’s deportation plan. [The] Abraham Initiatives expects the leaders of the parties seeking to form a government – the Likud, the National Unity Party and Yesh Atid – to declare that a government led by them will not in any way promote or encourage the emigration of Palestinian citizens of Israel.”