Repeal the New Citizenship Law

ACRI, the Center for the Protection of the Individual, and Physicians for Human Rights petitioned the Supreme Court on April 25, 2022, on behalf of a number of individuals affected by the new Citizenship Law, with a demand to repeal the law. The petitioning organizations argue that the law, which does not allow Palestinians to regularize their status in Israel, is racist and labels all Palestinians as a security risk.

The law violates a long list of basic rights for those who were permitted to stay in Israel and have become, over the years, de facto residents. It prevents them from, among other things, receiving social services, state health insurance, welfare services, and housing and legal aid; and limits their employment opportunities. The petition also argues that the law discriminates between the state's Arab and Jewish citizens and residents when it comes to the right to family life in Israel; that it separates spouses, and parents from their children; and undermines the values of a democratic state.

The petition reviews the dramatic changes that have occurred in the two decades since the Citizenship Law was first enacted in 2003 as a temporary provision. For years, the state was careful to extend the temporary provision on the basis of security arguments, but during the Knesset debates on enacting the law in March 2022, and upon completion of the legislative process, the law's initiators, and even the governmental legal bodies, admitted that this is legislation whose purpose is demographic, and that security groups are unable to justify it as a security measure.

Following this and other petitions, the State informed the Supreme Court on July 27, 2023, about changes that were being made to the law: women over the age of 40 who are spouses of citizens or residents of Israel, or married to Jerusalem residents, and have had a residency permit for over 10 years, will be able to receive temporary residency. This replaces the permit to stay in Israel, which does not grant social rights, with residency: an Israeli ID card, state health insurance, social security, access to social services, a driver's license, and more. It was also determined that individuals registered in the Palestinian registry in the West Bank or Gaza but who do not live there, will also be able to request to receive status.

In our response submitted on September 21, 2023, we argued that the new arrangement does not provide a solution for the vast majority of families and individuals on whose behalf we petitioned, which only demonstrates the arbitrariness of the law. We asked the court to issue a conditional order, and schedule a hearing on the petition.

On July 9, 2024, a hearing was held, after which the Supreme Court issued a conditional order instructing the State to explain why the Citizenship Law should not be repealed.

Meanwhile, an amendment to the law (Section 11a) was passed in the Knesset on May 9, 2025. The amendment approved the ability to issue a sweeping denial of status, or revocation of status, from Palestinian spouses, parents and children who have a family member involved in security issues (even if the family member is from the extended family, and even if they are not in contact with the family member). The amendment to the law adopted a very broad definition of "terrorist" to include minor crimes, and also applies it to Palestinian asylum seekers, victims of violence and crime, and other humanitarian cases. The amendment also established that a Palestinian who was in Israel illegally, regardless of the reason, will not be able to acquire status in Israel for a period of ten years.

We immediately submitted an urgent request for an interim order, requesting to freeze the amendment to the law until a decision is made on the petition regarding the law as a whole. We argued that the amendment has a dramatic impact on the human rights of people against whom there is no concrete claim that they are involved in anything criminal or terror-related, who will now be punished through no fault of their own by not receiving status or by being deported from the country. This also serves to punish their spouses and children who are Israeli citizens and residents. It is a basic principle that a person bears responsibility for their own actions, and should not punished for the actions committed by others. In addition to the problems of the law as a whole, the amendment allows for the collective punishment of people who have done nothing wrong.

On July 31, 2025, the Supreme Court rejected the request for an interim order, and decided that the claims against the amendment to the law would not be discussed within the framework of the petition against the law itself.

For a full list of legal correspondence and articles written in Hebrew about this issue, see here.

HCJ 2741/22 Abu Taleb v. Knesset

Attorneys: Oded Feller and Reut Shaer (Association for Civil Rights in Israel), Daniel Shenhar (HaMoked), Adi Lustigman (Physicians for Human Rights)

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