Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked on Wednesday called for the expulsion of several relatives of a terrorist who killed four Israeli soldiers in a 2017 truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem.
Citing a Jerusalem appeals court ruling from last week authorizing her to deport 17 of Fadi al-Qanbar’s relatives, Shaked announced she was revoking seven of their residency permits and that they were therefore now illegally in Israel. It was unclear why those seven had been singled out.
Arguing the move had an important deterrent effect for potential assailants and citing recent security tensions, Shaked sent a letter to Public Security Minister Omer Barlev urging him to carry out the expulsions under his authority as overseer of the the police.
“The State of Israel needs to fight terror with all means available to it and the time has come to this use this tool for deterrence,” Shaked said in a statement.
There was no immediate response from Barlev.
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The parents of Cadet Shir Hajaj, one of the soldiers killed when al-Qanbar smashed his truck into a group of troops touring Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv promenade, called for more of the attacker’s relatives to be deported.
“This is a good start,” Herzl and Merav Hajaj said. “We think this expulsion can deter the next terrorist.”
A composite image of the four Israeli soldiers killed on January 8, 2017 in a truck-ramming terror attack in Jerusalem. From left, IDF Lieutenant Yael Yekutiel, IDF Cadet Shir Hajaj, IDF Cadet Shira Tzur, IDF Cadet Erez Orbach. (Handout photos IDF Spokesperson)
The two also urged the interior minister to back their efforts to expel the Islamist Ra’am party — which, like Shaked, is part of the outgoing coalition — ahead of the upcoming elections.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, who Shaked as head of the Jewish Home party is expected to back after the November 1 vote, repeatedly denounced Ra’am as “terror supporters” as part of their push to topple the last government.
The three other soldiers killed in the 2017 attack were Lieutenant Yael Yekutiel, Cadet Shira Tzur and Cadet Erez Orbach, all of whom were 20.
Another 16 people were injured in the attack in Armon Hanatziv by al-Qanbar, a resident of the nearby Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, who was fatally shot by troops and a civilian tour guide after plowing into a large group of soldiers with a large flatbed truck.
Then-interior minister Aryeh Deri made the initial move to expel a number of al-Qanbar’s relatives, whose appeal against the deportations was rejected by the court last week.
