Israel's Shin Bet threaten footballer with citizenship revocation for playing for Palestine

A Palestinian footballer with Israeli citizenship is being threatened by the Israeli security service Shin Bet because he played for the Palestinian national team and the Qatari club, Al-Arabi SC.

Aladin Hassan, from the Palestinian town of Mashhad within Israel's 1948 borders, said he was subject to interrogations by Shin Bet, who threatened to revoke his Israeli citizenship over his football-playing decisions.

The 25-year-old began playing for the Palestinian national team in 2023 and for Al-Arabi SC in Doha in February 2024.

In an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz, Hassan provided details of his encounter with the Shin Bet security services after he returned to Israel via Ben-Gurion Airport to attend his brother's wedding.

Upon his arrival from Doha on 5 April, Hassan said he was interrogated for nine consecutive hours inside the Israeli airport, where he was thoroughly searched and had his phone confiscated, which has still not been returned to the footballer.

The footballer said Shin Bet summoned him for questioning at their office in Nazareth six days later, where the interrogation largely focused on his decision to play for the Palestinian national team.

The Shin Bet officers threatened to "strip him of his nationality, monitor him constantly and even end his career", he said.

"I was told I would be under surveillance indefinitely," he told Haaretz.

Security officers were visibly angry during the interrogation over his decision to play for a club in Qatar – which they referred to as a "hostile state".

The winger said his family members were also threatened during an ordeal at the same airport when he returned to Doha to resume his football-playing duties.

Shin Bet told Haaretz that the footballer was questioned over "suspected links to terrorist elements abroad", and denied they had tried to revoke Hassan’s citizenship.

Hassan’s ordeal is the latest example of Israel’s intimidation tactics against Palestinian citizens of the country, particularly public figures active in politics, arts, and sports who remain proudly Palestinian.

Such acts of harassment have increased significantly since the start of the war in Gaza, with those voicing opposition to Israel’s military onslaught targeted specifically, but Hassan said the latest act of state intimidation will not deter him.

"Many Arab athletes and individuals from our community are being harassed. It's my legal, national and moral right to represent Palestine," Hassan said.

"It's also my right to play in Qatar, or any country I choose, and to refuse to represent Israel. The Israeli national team previously approached me, and I declined."

In a similar case two years ago, the Israeli minister of culture and sport threatened to revoke the citizenship of Palestinian footballer Ataa Jaber for observing a minute's silence in a World Cup qualifier, over the atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon.

Aladin Hassan has represented the Palestinian national team on seven occasions since his debut two years ago and has enjoyed spells with several Israeli league teams, including Kafr Qasim and Bnei Sakhnin.

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