An Egyptian court has ruled that marriages between Egyptians and Israelis constitute a risk to national security, saying that this offense is grave enough to cause a person to lose Egyptian citizenship.
The administrative court’s ruling was announced on Thursday after a lawsuit was filed by Shaimaa Amin, who asked Egypt’s Interior Ministry to strip her brother of his citizenship because he was married to an Israeli woman with whom he had children. The man has been living in the UK with his family for 12 years, Ahram Online reported.
According to the report, Amin claimed that her brother’s views “do not suit Egyptian society” and his marriage to the Israeli woman poses “a threat to Egypt’s national security.”
Egyptian Court Rules: Marriage to Israeli Grounds for Stripping of Citizenship: An administrative court in Eg… https://t.co/4PUz5CI3UE
— VOFN Egypt (@vofnegypt) September 9, 2016
The administrative court stated that, although the right to freely marry was a personal freedom guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution, this right does not supersede a citizen’s obligation to protect society and the state.
“It is crystal clear how the occupation state of Israel discriminates racially against all those who are not of Jewish origin. The defendant should have worked hard to make his wife and son give up their Israeli nationality and come to live in Egypt,” the court stated.
The defendant reportedly said that he had decided to marry an Israeli because Israel allegedly “defends human rights” and fights terrorism, unlike Arab states, while also noting that his marriage has provided him and his family with a secure future.
Sisi praises Netanyahu during meeting with Zionist organisations https://t.co/6hBaCP5Ya9
— Living Sarcasm (@SarcasmLiving) September 7, 2016
Roughly 30,000 Egyptians are married to Israeli women, many of whom are of Arab origin.
This is also not the first time that an Egyptian has been stripped of citizenship for marrying an Israeli.
In 2009, an administrative court ruled that the Egyptian prime minister and interior minister should revoke the citizenship of Egyptians that have married Israelis, served in the Israeli army, or “embraced Zionism,”
In contrast to the court’s strong stance, Egyptian PM, Abdelfatah Al-Sisi has repeatedly shown his support for Israel. Earlier this year, Netanyahu praised Sisi, describing the peace treaty between the two countries as “an anchor of stability and security in our region”.
#Netanyahu thanks al-Sisi for efforts towards regional peace on #Egypt National Day @IlsePosselt https://t.co/ML0vTeN207
— Bridges for Peace (@BridgesForPeace) August 1, 2016
Netanyahu thanked “President Al-Sisi for his leadership and for his efforts to advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians and in the broader Middle East.”
Egypt has continued to plague the Palestinian people through its tight control over the Rafah border, limiting the movement of people out of the Gaza Strip.
(PC, RT)
