Israel Seeks to Revoke Citizenship of Two Prisoners Convicted of Aiding Hamas

The State Attorney’s Office today (Wednesday) submitted an unprecedented request to the Central District Court to revoke the citizenship of two security prisoners, Rani Ouf and Shadi Aidi, who were convicted of serious security offenses centered on aiding the Hamas organization. The request was filed at the urging of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and with the approval of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

According to the prosecution, this is the first time a request has been filed to revoke citizenship through the criminal track under the Citizenship Law, on the grounds of breach of allegiance by citizens of the state. The filing argues that the circumstances of the case justify the use of this extraordinary authority, given the severity of the acts and the alleged harm to state security.

The two were convicted, among other charges, of conspiracy to aid the enemy in wartime and passing information to the enemy with the intent to harm state security. In addition, Rani Ouf was also convicted of disclosing a decision to commit treason and contact with a foreign agent. In 2024, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, along with a suspended sentence and a fine, while Shadi Aidi was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, a suspended sentence, and a fine.

According to the state’s filing, the two were employed by Cellcom and held broad access permissions to the company’s computer systems and infrastructure. For years, they worked to advance a plan aimed at shutting down the company’s computing and information systems during a war or military operation, with the goal of aiding the Hamas organization.

It was further claimed that, as part of their activities, they passed along sensitive information concerning the communications infrastructure and the company’s information security systems, and also planned to introduce tools that would make it possible to disrupt the communications network during a security conflict.

Prosecutors stressed that the actions of the two do not amount only to security offenses, but also constitute a fundamental breach of the duty of loyalty to the state. In the state’s position paper, it was written that, "The act for which the defendants were convicted justifies taking the step of revoking citizenship, as it is an extreme and exceptional case of breaching the duty of allegiance owed by citizens to the state."

The state further said in its request that the actions of the two constitute "genuine acts of treason and a blatant violation of the basic duty of loyalty to the state," adding that the acts attributed to them were planned to be carried out during wartime, out of nationalist and ideological motives, and with the aim of assisting Palestinian terrorist organizations.

The request also argues that the citizenship revocation mechanism established by law was intended precisely for exceptional cases of this kind, in which, according to the state, the basic bond between citizen and state has been severed בעקבות the severe breach of allegiance for which they were convicted.