An organization linked to terrorism and a history of support for the anti-Israeli Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement is taking advantage of legal loopholes of the family reunification law, Israel Hayom learned Monday.
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The Society of St. Yves defines itself as a "Palestinian Catholic human rights" and "legal aid" organization, with its founders being major supporters of BDS. On Feb. 3, two days after the family reunification law expired, the association launched a new campaign, appealing to the Arab population in Judea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem to take advantage of the legal vacuum and apply for an Israeli ID.
St. Yves is calling on all those eligible to come to our office in the Old City of Jerusalem and take advantage of the golden opportunity to demand residency rights that Palestinians have been denied since 2002, the organization said.
The family reunification law, which blocks the automatic granting of Israeli citizenship or residency to Palestinians on the basis of marriage to an Israeli, was first enacted in 2003, and has been extended annually, except for 2021.
The Society of St. Yves was founded in 1991 by the former Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Michel Sabba, one of the promoters of BDS in the church.
In 2011, its head of the advocacy department Raed Halabi was convicted and sentenced to 26-months in prison for "organizational activity in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine" – a designated terrorist organization in the United States, Europe Union, Canada, and Israel.
In 2014, authorities prevented it from holding a conference organized in cooperation with the PFLP. Throughout the years, St. Yves has flooded Israeli courts with thousands of legal petitions by Palestinians in an effort to thwart demolitions of illegal structures.
"We must remove the recognition of Israel, an illegal entity that was established on the basis of power and oppression, and will only disappear through the same power and oppression," Halabi wrote in 2020. "No peace, no negotiations, no surrender."
Despite the damage St. Yves has inflicted, authorities have yet to stop the organization's activities.
Matan Peleg, head of right-wing Im Tirtzu organization called "on all Knesset members who consider themselves 'Zionist' and who say that the future of Israel as a Jewish state is important to them – to stop procrastinating immediately and take responsibility with regard to the citizenship law and vote for the agreed-upon wording. The avalanche is on its way unless our elected representatives come to their senses.
Just on Monday, the Shin Bet security agency revealed that Hamas is intentionally recruiting Arab citizens of Israel who have one parent who was born in Gaza or Judea and Samaria for the purpose of terrorist attacks and intelligence gathering.
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