France has condemned Israel's expulsion of Palestinian-French human rights lawyer Salah Hamouri, who had been held in Israeli prisons without charge since March for alleged security offences.
Israel's interior ministry deported Palestinian-French lawyer and activist Salah Hamouri to France on Sunday, despite objections from the French government.
“I’m happy to announce that justice was served today and the terrorist Salah Hamouri was deported from Israel," Israel's interior minister, Ayelet Shaked, announced in a videotaped statement on Sunday.
Hamouri, 37, was escorted onto a flight to France early on Sunday morning and arrived in Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport just after 10 am local time, welcomed by his French wife and dozens of politicians, NGO representatives and supporters.
Hamouri had been held in detention in Israel since March without formal charge.
France's foreign ministry denounced his deportation and said that the French government had actively sought to defend his rights and has been in contact with Israeli authorities many times.
"We condemn today the Israeli authorities' decision, against the law, to expel Salah Hamouri to France," the French foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Stripped of residency rights
Hamouri is a lifelong resident of Jerusalem and does not have Israeli citizenship. He holds French citizenship through his mother.
He was stripped of his residency rights on 1 December on charges that he was active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – classified by Israel and its western allies as a terrorist organisation.
He has worked as a lawyer for Addameer – a rights group helping Palestinian prisoners that was designated a terrorist organisation by the Israel defence ministry in October 2021 for its alleged ties to the PFLP.
"During his life he organised, inspired and planned to commit terror attacks on his own and for the organisation against citizens and well-known Israelis," a statement from the interior ministry said.
Hamouri denies he is a member of a terrorist organisation and the Israeli human rights group HaMoked, which is fighting his case, condemned Sunday's expulsion.
“Deporting a Palestinian from their homeland for breach of allegiance to the state of Israel is a dangerous precedent and a gross violation of basic rights,” said HaMoked's director, Jessica Montell.
“HaMoked will continue to fight against this unconstitutional law.”
Years in prison
Hamouri was most recently detained by Israel in March when he was held under administrative detention – a status that allows Israel to hold suspected militants for months at a time without charge or trial.
After four months he appealed to President Emmanuel Macron for help.
He went on hunger strike for three weeks in September to protest against his administrative detention.
Last month he was informed he would be deported, but the expulsion was delayed while his lawyers contested the case.
On 1 December, the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, paving the way for his deportation.
Hamouri was previously detained by Israel between 2005 and 2011 for his alleged role in a plot to kill a chief rabbi, but has always claimed his innocence.
He was released in a 2011 prisoner swap with the Hamas militant group.
More deportations feared
The overwhelming majority of East Jerusalem's more than 340,000 Palestinians hold Israeli residency permits but few have citizenship in Israel.
Montell said Hamouri's case sets a precedent for the deportation of Jerusalemites who hold alternative citizenship.
"Because he holds a second nationality, that makes him more vulnerable to deportation," said Montell.
She also expressed concerns there could more frequent deportations of other Palestinians born in Jerusalem with a new right-wing coalition, including members from the ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties, expected to form Israel's next government.
In her online statement on Sunday the outgoing Interior Minister Shaked said it was "a great achievement to have been able to cause, just before the end of my term, [Hamouri's] expulsion".
(with newswires)
