Israel on Sunday deported a Palestinian lawyer to France after stripping him of his Jerusalem residency for his alleged involvement in terrorist activity.
Salah Hamouri, 37, was held without charge for over nine months in administrative detention, a procedure allowing Israel to hold detainees without trial and without revealing sensitive intelligence out of national security concerns.
Hamouri was arrested on March 3, 2022, in administrative detention for a period of three months, which was extended three times.
According to the suspicion, Hamouri — who was previously jailed and later released for a plot to assassinate a prominent rabbi — was a member of the Marxist-Leninist terror group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and posed a threat to national security.
In light of his continued involvement in the terrorist group, Hamouri was arrested several times in the past in administrative detention and was subject to additional restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities, including a prohibition on entering the West Bank and being separated from his wife and children.
Hamouri, who was born in the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Kafr ‘Aqab, is also a citizen of France, where his wife and children live.
Hamori, who studied law at Al-Quds University, has worked as a lawyer for Adameer, a rights group that represents Palestinian prisoners and one of six Palestinian rights groups blacklisted by Israel last year for alleged ties to the PFLP.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz claimed at the time that the group operates as an extension of the PFLP and assists it in raising funds. The international community has largely rejected the blacklisting, citing scant evidence provided to Israel on the groups’ ties to the terror group.
Hamouri's deportation proceedings were led by Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, who hailed the move as a “great achievement.”
"Today the trial of the terrorist Salah Hamouri has finally been completed and he is being deported from Israel,” she said.
“This was a long and protracted process and it is a great achievement that I was able to bring about his deportation just before the end of my duties, using the tools at my disposal to advance the fight against terrorism. I hope that the incoming government will continue along these lines and deport terrorists from Israel.”
The deportation of Palestinian terrorists or terror suspects — whether they hold Israeli citizenship or Jerusalem residency — is exceedingly rare since most of them do not hold a second citizenship.
The decision to revoke Hamouri's residency was made after a bureaucratic procedure that included a recommendation from the Shin Bet, as well as the agreement of Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar.
Hamouri was first arrested by the Shin Bet in 2005 when he was 20 alongside two other PFLP operatives. He was convicted of conspiring with his peers to assassinate Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, then a former chief rabbi and the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.
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Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, left, and then-Shas leader Eli Yishai, right, meet with the French ambassador to discuss the release of Salah Hamouri, 2011
(Photo: Gil Yochanan)
Hamouri was sentenced to seven years in prison. In 2009
In 2009, then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy asked then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release Hamouri as a "gesture of goodwill", saying that he believed that Hamouri "has a chance to be rehabilitated in the future", but his request was rejected.
Hamouri was freed in a 2011 prisoner swap with Hamas for the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Rabbi Ovadia Yossef approved Hamouri’s release after meeting with the French ambassador in light of Sarkozy's request. Then-Shas chairman Eli Yishai said the decision was made "out of concern for the Jewish people, despite the personal interest."
However, Hamouri did not express any remorse for his actions after his release and claimed that the scholar “was and will remain a symbol of racism and bigotry in Israel".
Like other prisoners released in the swap, Hamouri also signed a commitment not to be involved in violence again.