Egypt to invalidate weddings to Israelis

Egyptians married to Israelis could lose their citizenship under an order from an Egyptian appeals court.

In upholding last year’s lower court ruling, the appeals court said June 5 that the Interior Ministry should present each marriage case to the Cabinet on an individual basis. The Cabinet will then rule on whether to strip the Egyptian of his citizenship.

The court also said officials should take into consideration whether a man married an Israeli Arab or a Jew when making its decision to revoke citizenship.

The decision, which cannot be appealed, comes more than year after a lower court ruled that the Interior Ministry must implement the 1976 article of the citizenship law.

That bill revokes citizenship of Egyptians who married Israelis who have served in the army or embrace Zionism as an ideology. The Interior Ministry appealed that ruling.

The case underlines the deep animosity many Egyptians hold toward Israelis, despite a peace treaty signed between the two countries 31 years ago. — ap