Palestine rights group decries proposed Israel death penalty bill News
Clema12, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Palestine rights group decries proposed Israel death penalty bill

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) on Monday denounced a proposed Israeli death penalty bill, which recently underwent a second and third reading in the Knesset, claiming it represents “an extreme escalation in Israel’s genocidal policies against Palestinians.” 

Órlaith Roe, the ICJP’s public affairs and communications officer, spoke critically of the proposed legislation, stating:

Israel’s targeted killing of Palestinians is part of a longstanding and deeply disturbing pattern. The death penalty bill contravenes the very foundations of international law and marks a draconian escalation in Israel’s codification of ethnic cleansing policies against Palestinians. It not only constitutes a direct assault on the right to life, but does so in a manner that is both openly discriminatory and grossly disproportionate.

The Knesset has recently discussed two related controversial bills. One would expand death penalty sentencing to the occupied West Bank by amending the Israeli Penal Law 5737-1977 and relevant military regulations. The other would introduce special provisions and an ad hoc military court to prosecute those allegedly involved in the October 7, 2023 attacks in southern Israel. In both cases, death by hanging is mandated.

The proposed legislation would impose the death penalty as a mandatory sentence for any person who willfully or negligently causes the death of an Israeli citizen out of a motive of “racism or hostility toward the public,” aiming to “harm the state of Israel” or the “revival of the Jewish people in its homeland.” The sentencing provision would only apply in military courts that oversee cases involving West Bank Palestinians, while Israeli citizens accused of similar acts would likely face lower sentencing standards.

Human rights organizations in January this year warned that the proposed bills may constitute some of the most extreme and dangerous legislative measures ever employed by Israel against Palestinians.

Although several provisions of Israeli law allow for the imposition of the death penalty, both in Israel and the West Bank, Israel has become a de facto abolitionist state with respect to capital punishment, having not carried out an execution since 1962. However, if brought to the floor, passage is highly likely given broad political support across both coalition and opposition parties.

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