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What it means when Israel threatens to revoke citizenship

Many Arabs fear that Israel's increasing right-wing tendency will open the way for more laws targeting Arab citizens of Israel.

Israeli border policemen detain a wounded Palestinian protester who witnesses said was shot by the troops during clashes following a rally ahead of the Nakba day in the West Bank city of Bethlehem May 14, 2015. Palestinians mark "Nakba" (Catastrophe) on May 15 to commemorate the expulsion or fleeing of some 700,000 Palestinians from their homes in the war that led to the founding of Israel in 1948. REUTERS/Ammar Awad      TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY      - RTX1CYIX
Israeli border policemen detain a wounded Palestinian protester who witnesses said was shot by the troops during clashes in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, May 14, 2015. — REUTERS/Ammar Awad

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel's proposal to strip Arabs accused of violence of their Israeli citizenship is angering those who say the plan proves the racism and discrimination practiced against them.

Israeli Interior Minister Silvan Shalom said Oct. 15 that Alaa Ziwad of Umm al-Fahm and Isra Abed of Nazareth should be stripped of their Israeli citizenship. Israeli police accused Ziwad of running over one Israeli and trying to stab three others Oct. 11, an act that he denied during an Oct. 12 trial. Abed died after police shot her Oct. 9 in the town of Afula for allegedly intending to carry out a stabbing. The media later broadcast a video that showed she was standing still when she was shot several times.

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