Outrage Over New Israeli Law Allowing County to Deport Relatives of People Who Express Sympathy for 'Act of Terrorism'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party introduced and the Israeli parliament passed a controversial law that would allow the government to deport first-degree relatives of anyone convicted of terrorism offenses for up to 20 years.

Any family member who knew about a forthcoming act of terrorism and failed to report it to police or supported it and any relatives who posted "praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of terrorism or a terrorist organization" are at risk of deportation to Gaza or "another destination determined according to the circumstances," the BBC reported.

Israeli human rights organizations deemed the law unconstitutional, and if it reaches the Supreme Court, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute said, it would likely be struck down.

"The bottom line is this is completely non-constitutional and a clear conflict to Israel's core values," he told the Associated Press, according to the BBC.

An Israeli political analyst told the BBC the law will only apply to Israeli Arabs and Palestinians.

"It is very unlikely that a Jewish citizen of Israel would ever be deported under this law," the political analyst said. "This is clear from certain provisions in the law itself but also important elements which will determine how the law is applied, including that in normal Israeli parlance, the term 'terror' is almost never applied to Jewish acts of violence against Palestinian civilians."