Israeli Knesset is set to vote on Wednesday on a proposed amendment to the Penal Code to legalize the use of death penalty against the Palestinians involved in anti-occupation attacks.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said in a statement on Tuesday that the bill was presented before the Knesset by three Israeli MKs on 30th October 2017.
The amended bill stipulates that if a Palestinian is convicted of carrying out an attack that has resulted in killing Israelis Israel’s minister of war can order the military court to impose death penalty on him/her. The ruling does not require a consensus of opinion among judges but only an ordinary majority with no possibility to commute the sentence.
The Israeli MKs who filed the bill claim that releasing Palestinian detainees following a certain period of imprisonment (in reference to the prisoner exchange deals) after they have carried out “terrible attacks” will weaken Israel’s deterrence capability.
The PCHR affirmed that this bill is only an attempt to legitimize the status quo and the policy of assassination and extra-judicial execution already pursued against the Palestinian citizens based on direct orders from the highest decision makers in the Israeli army.
The Palestinian Center pointed out that the proposed amendment violates Israel’s obligations under Article (6) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which sets certain conditions for imposing death penalty not available in the Israeli military courts.
A similar bill was rejected by the Knesset in 2015. At that time the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recommended his party’s MKs not to vote on the bill saying that it needed amendments and prolonged discussions which indicates that Netanyahu and his extremist party Likud accepted the bill in principle.
The PCHR warned that this Israeli move will open the door for further crimes against the Palestinian civilians and called on the United Nations and signatories to human rights conventions to work to put an end to Israel’s racist policies.
According to the Israeli media the bill is supported by a number of extremist ministers in the Israeli government including Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel Minister of Culture Miri Regev Minister of Science Danny Danon and Minister of Immigration Ze’ev Elkin.
The Israeli occupation authorities issued two decisions (268) and (159) in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967 and 1968 respectively. Using death penalty under those decisions became optional for the judge not mandatory; therefore it could be replaced by life imprisonment or hard labor for life.
