BREAKING: Israel Approves Extreme Death Penalty Law Targeting Only Palestinians
Monday’s vote in the Knesset to impose a one-sided death penalty bill on Palestinians will further cement Israel’s system of apartheid.
Israel’s parliament approved a one-sided death penalty measure to execute Palestinians. It’s one of the most extreme laws in the nation’s history, and will exacerbate the far-right government’s illegal system of apartheid.
Some members of the Knesset, including ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, were seen wearing noose pins in the Knesset on Monday, and celebrating with drinks on live TV after the bill passed. Ben-Gvir said hanging is “one of the options,” as is execution by the electric chair or euthanasia.
The bill drew international condemnation ahead of its passage, including from the European Union, UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, and Amnesty International. Human rights groups have vowed to challenge the bill in Israel’s supreme court.
The legislation, which has garnered broad public support in Israel, authorizes executions for “terrorists” who kill “with the intent to deny the existence of the State of Israel,” according to Haaretz – effectively ensuring it won’t apply to any of the settlers who routinely murder Palestinians.
In military courts in the occupied West Bank, execution will now be the default punishment for terrorism. Only Palestinians are tried in these courts, and 96% of people are convicted, though cases are largely built on “confessions” extracted through torture.
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians condemned the bill on Monday ahead of the vote as an “extreme escalation in Israel’s genocidal policies against Palestinians.”
“The progression of the legislation marks not just a profoundly unjust and illegal act of discrimination under international law, but a far more sinister escalation of Israel’s apartheid legal systems,” the center wrote.
Israel is currently imprisoning about 9,500 Palestinians, according to the human rights group B’Tselem, and about half of them are held under administrative detention.
According to the group, the Israel Prison Service has already started to prepare designated execution facilities.
B’Tselem on Sunday called the bill “another official killing mechanism” that will further normalize the slaughter of Palestinians, as Israel continues its genocide in Gaza and intensifies attacks in the occupied West Bank.
“The death penalty is a total violation of the most basic human rights, primarily, the right to life,” B’Tselem wrote. “Israel enforces a comprehensive policy of killing and oppression against the Palestinian people in all the territories it controls. The Death Penalty Law gives Israel’s apartheid regime yet another tool for advancing that policy.”
On top of Monday’s bill, the Knesset is also considering another death penalty measure to impose on alleged Oct. 7, 2023, attackers. According to Amnesty, that bill would effectively expand the unilateral powers of military judges and eliminate judicial safeguards.
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