Israel deports Palestinian-French human rights lawyer Salah Hammouri | Israel

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The Israeli Ministry of Interior said in a statement that Israel has deported French-Palestinian human rights lawyer Salah Al-Hamouri, accusing him of committing security violations against the State of Israel.

Hammouri was escorted early Sunday morning to the airport, where he boarded a flight to France, where his campaign said he had no legal refuge.

Hamouri, 37, a resident of Jerusalem who does not hold Israeli citizenship, had his residency revoked Dec. 1 on charges that he was active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel and its Western allies designate as a terrorist organization.

“During his life, he organized, inspired and planned to carry out terrorist attacks himself and for the organization against citizens and known Israelis,” a statement from the Interior Ministry said.

A statement from Hammouri’s campaign described the deportation as a “war crime” and said it violated international law.

Hammouri said in a statement, “Wherever the Palestinian goes, he takes with him these principles and the cause of his people: his country he carries with him to where it ends.”

Hamouri was recently detained by Israel in administrative detention without charge on March 7 until December 1, when Israel revoked his residency and stated that he would be deported.

He was previously arrested by Israel between 2005 and 2011 after being accused of attempting to assassinate Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, founder of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, but he has always maintained his innocence.

Hamouri was released in December 2011 as part of a Palestinian prisoner exchange in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was released in October 2011 after five years in captivity in the Gaza Strip at the hands of Hamas.

There was no immediate comment from the French consulate in Jerusalem on Sunday.

The vast majority of East Jerusalem’s more than 340,000 Palestinians hold Israeli residency permits, but few hold citizenship in Israel, which regards the entire Holy City as its eternal, undivided capital.

Palestinians have long sought the east of the city, which Israel captured in the 1967 war and later annexed in a move not recognized internationally, as the capital of a future state.

Jessica Montell, the executive director of Hamoked, who represents Hamouri, told Reuters that other Jerusalem residents have been accused of breach of allegiance and had their residency revoked in the past, but they cannot be deported because they do not hold another nationality.

Montiel said that Hammouri’s case thus set a precedent for the deportation of Jerusalemites who hold an alternative nationality.

“Because he holds a second citizenship, this makes him more vulnerable to deportation,” said Montiel, adding that she expects similar cases to arise more frequently with a new right-wing coalition expected to form the next Israeli government.

“We can only expect that all of these measures will accelerate with the advent of this new government.”

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