Israel deports Palestinian activist to France

Israel said it deported a Palestinian lawyer and activist to France early Sunday, claiming he has ties to a banned militant group, despite objections from the French government.
The expulsion of Salah Hammouri underscored the fragile status of Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, where most hold revocable residency rights but are not Israeli citizens. It also set up a possible diplomatic spat with France, which had repeatedly appealed to Israel not to carry out the expulsion.
“I’m happy to announce that justice was served today and the terrorist Salah Hammouri was deported from Israel,” Israel’s interior minister, Ayelet Shaked, announced in a videotaped statement. He was set to land in Paris just before 10 a.m. local time.
Hammouri was born in Jerusalem but holds French citizenship.