Israel institutes death penalty for Palestinians guilty of terror attacks or killing Israelis
The Israeli parliament passed an intensely criticized law on Monday evening that establishes the “death penalty for terrorists”, a text that would only apply to Palestinians found guilty of anti-Israeli attacks or bombings, reports AFP, according to Agerpres.
This bill submitted by the extreme right was adopted in the third reading with 62 votes “for” and 48 “against”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted in favor of the law.
A human rights NGO announced late Monday that it had filed an appeal with Israel's Supreme Court to challenge the law, minutes after it was passed by the Knesset.
This law is “unconstitutional, discriminatory in nature and, for Palestinians in the West Bank, enacted without legal basis,” the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) wrote in a statement detailing the reasons for the referral.
The general framework of the law states that any person who “intentionally causes the death of another for the purpose of harming an Israeli citizen or resident, with the intent to end the existence of the State of Israel, shall be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.”
But for Palestinians in the West Bank, the text stipulates that the death penalty is the default penalty if the killing is classified as an act of terrorism by Israeli military justice.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. In this territory, Palestinians who commit crimes are tried by Israeli military courts, while Israeli settlers are tried by civilian courts.
In any case, the death penalty would be applicable within 90 days of the final conviction, with a possible stay of up to 180 days.
In February, Amnesty International called on Israeli MPs to reject the text, saying it would “allow Israeli courts to expand the use of the death penalty with a discriminatory application against Palestinians”.
The death penalty exists in Israel, but it has only been carried out on two occasions: in 1948, shortly after the creation of the state of Israel, against an army captain accused of high treason, and in 1962, when Nazi murderer Adolf Eichmann was hanged.
