Israeli media is reporting that Egypt has begun the process of revoking citizenship for senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar. According to a Times of Israel report:
Mahmoud Al-Zahar
Egypt is moving to revoke the citizenship of a senior Hamas official in Gaza, a government official said on Sunday.
Major General Hussein al-Ridi, an assistant to the interior minister for immigration and citizenship issues, told Dubai-based news channel Al-Arabiya that a request to revoke the Egyptian citizenship of Mahmoud al-Zahar and 11 of his family members has been forwarded to the government for approval.
Al-Ridi explained that al-Zahar and his family belong to an organization which ‘works to weaken Egypt’s economic and social system,’ a reference to the Hamas movement, which was branded a terror organization under Egyptian law in early March.
Eight thousand Palestinians won Egyptian citizenship during the one-year tenure of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, Al-Ridi added, including Al-Zahar, whose mother was Egyptian.
Special committees have been established in Egypt’s interior ministry to review all cases of Palestinians naturalized as Egyptians since May 2011, a number estimated at 24,000, he said. Palestinians who are found to belong to ‘a terror organization or a foreign army or military establishment’ will have their citizenship revoked ‘immediately and without debate.’
On March 6, Egyptian independent daily Al-Youm A-Sabi’ reported that authorities are seeking to strip thousands of Palestinians residing in Egypt of their Egyptian citizenship.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, the Cairo-based deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, has denied rumors that he would be forced to leave Egypt following the ouster of Morsi in June 2013.
GMBDW coverage of Mahmoud al-Zahar has included:
In August 2010, the GMBDW reported that al-Zahar supported the building of the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” at the site of the 911 attacks.
In November 2010, we reported that al-Zahar had made comments which justified the historical persecution of the Jews and said they “have no future among the nations of the world. You are headed to annihilation.”
In December 2011, we reported al-Zahar’s prediction that “the Muslim Brotherhood will keep on ruling from the Tunisia to Gaza as long as the movement fulfils their promises to the people who not only trusted but voted for them as well.”
In July 2012, we reported on a meeting that included al-Zahar with leaders from UK Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas organizations.
In July 2013, we reported on al-Zahar’s efforts to rebuild relations between Hamas and Iran.
