FT Decries Stripped Citizenship, Forgets Who Invented It
According to the Financial Times, threatening to strip someone of their citizenship is 'no joke.' A sentiment one might think the publication would apply universally. However, the FT's concern appears to halt precisely where the state of Israel's policies begin. Lest we forget, the state of Israel was founded on the systematic dispossession and denial of citizenship to hundreds of thousands of
Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba, a historical reality consistently airbrushed from such mainstream discussions. This policy of revoking residency and citizenship for Palestinians deemed 'disloyal' continues to this day, well-documented by B'Tselem and human rights organizations. (One might wonder if these actions are considered 'jokes' or just inconvenient history.) So, while the FT correctly
states that threatening statelessness is a grave matter, their outrage seems reserved for specific cases, rather than for the ongoing, state-sanctioned practice that laid the groundwork for an entire displacement. How many millions must lose their homes and legal status before the threat stops being a selective concern and becomes a universal human rights issue?