Israel Seeks to Strip Citizenship from Two Prisoners Who Planned Major Cyberattack for Hamas

For the first time, Israel's prosecution has submitted a precedent-setting request to the Central District Court to revoke the citizenship of two security prisoners convicted of planning a large-scale cyberattack for Hamas. The request was made at the Prime Minister's behest, who holds Interior Ministry powers on this matter, and with approval from the Attorney General. The state argued that the defendants' actions constitute an extreme breach of loyalty justifying citizenship cancellation under the Citizenship Law.

The two men, Rani Of and Shadi Aidi, formerly employees of the Israeli telecom company Cellcom, had extensive access to the company's IT systems and infrastructure. They engaged in a series of actions aimed at enabling the shutdown of Cellcom's computer and information systems during wartime or military operations to assist Hamas. Of maintained ongoing contact with senior Hamas figures in Turkey and, with Aidi's help, transferred sensitive information about Israel's communication infrastructure and Cellcom's cybersecurity measures, including ways to bypass them.

They planned to implant technological tools to disrupt and disable Cellcom's network during conflict, which also serves Israel's security forces, thereby causing significant harm to national security and critical infrastructure. Both were convicted based on their confessions of conspiracy to assist an enemy in wartime and transmitting information to harm state security. Of was additionally convicted of revealing a decision to betray and contact with a foreign agent.

In 2024, Of was sentenced to 11 years in prison, suspended sentence, and a fine, while Aidi received 5.5 years, suspended sentence, and a fine. The citizenship revocation request, filed after sentencing, emphasized the severity of their offenses, motivated by nationalist and ideological reasons to aid Palestinian terror groups by targeting central Israeli communication infrastructure. The state described their acts as outright treason and a severe breach of fundamental loyalty, with potentially high damage from the planned cyberattack.

The request highlighted that their long-term, systematic actions aimed to assist Israel's worst enemies during wartime, justifying the exceptional measure of citizenship cancellation as a symbolic severance of their bond to the state. Similar requests are expected soon against Jewish citizens convicted of spying for Iran, as reported earlier in February by Israel Hayom.