The Israeli legislature recently passed a bill that supports the death penalty — but only for Palestinians.
Israel has become the first state since Nazi Germany to approve of the death penalty for just one race. The internationally controversial bill, which was passed on March 30, mandates that execution becomes the default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly terror attacks; however, Israelis charged with the same crime will not face the same fate. The passage of this legislation conflicts with Israel’s Basic Laws, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination and, thus, has sparked disgust and disapproval. 62 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, voted in favor while 48 voted against the bill. It sets the execution method as hanging, adding that it must be carried out within 90 days of the sentencing with a potential postponement of up to 180 days. This draconian law is alleged by the Knesset, the Israeli legislature, to be grounded in some kind of objective criteria. However, the fact that the law selectively applies to Palestinians only speaks for itself.
Many Palestinians have been protesting this due to the bill’s discriminatory nature and vague broadness. It even finds a way to rope in people that are indirectly connected to these terror attacks. If an uninvolved Palestinian is on the scene of a fatal terror attack, they, too, can be charged and subjected to possible arrest, a military court trial and, in severe cases, hanging. This opens a door to extreme abuse, such as with the case of the West Bank Village of Bili’in. This village of 600 residents has held weekly peaceful protests against Israeli soldiers who cut down and burned their 500-year-old olive trees (their staple crop). At these protests, there is often infiltration of “Mista’arvim” — Israeli special forces dressed as Palestinians. These agents throw large rocks at Israeli soldiers while the Palestinians of Bili’in march calmly with flags. Under the new law, if one of those rocks kills a soldier, then every community member involved could be convicted of orchestrating homicide and automatically sentenced to death. This law will undoubtedly lead to hundreds of activists being sent to the gallows.
Palestinians have faced shady and dubious trials in Israeli military courts since the occupation of the West Bank in 1967. The Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Addameer, a Palestinian nongovernmental organization, reports that upwards of 96% of Palestinians charged in these courts are found guilty. Unfortunately, the Israeli legal system is intentionally selective and enforced with the utmost discretion given to military soldiers. Laws like Military Order 1651, which classifies stone-throwing as terrorism, and directives like one issued by national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, which criminalizes carrying the Palestinian flag and restricts printing pamphlets without military permission, demonstrate the unfairness of the military court system. Palestinians may have legal representation, but their rights are still extremely limited. They are often subjected to intense forms of torture during interrogation, including gang rape.
As the U.S. and Israel continue to wage war in Iran, massive surges of violence in the West Bank have increased, mainly by Israeli settlers towards Palestinian inhabitants. As to be expected, there has been no government intervention. Israel has long abandoned fundamental standards of international human rights law. Documented torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention without trial and contempt for institutions such as the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court demand much more than passive United Nations condemnation. Calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions are growing, alongside demands for stronger action to hold Israel accountable for countless war crimes and irreparable behaviour.
