JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said it deported a Palestinian lawyer and activist to France, claiming he has ties to a banned militant group, despite objections from the French government.
The explusion of Salah Hammouri underscored the fragile status of the status of Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and set up a possible diplomatic spat with France. The French government had repeatedly appealed to Israel not to carry out the expulsion.
Israel’s interior minister, Ayelet Shaked, announced the deportation in a brief statement.
“I’m happy to announce that justice was served today and the terrorist Salah Hammouri was deported from Israel,” she said in a videotaped statement.
Israel says Hammouri is an activist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Hammouri had been held in administrative detention without being charged. Shaked ordered the expulsion when his detention ended.
Hammouri was born in Jerusalem but holds French citizenship.
