Despite countless United Nations resolutions and international accords that ban the incarceration of children, Israel continues to detain and imprison Palestinian children in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli Parliament (Knesset) passed on Thursday legislation allowing the detention of Palestinian children under the age of 14 in closed facilities, Anadolu news agency reported.
According to a statement by the Knesset, the bill was approved in the second and third reading by 55-33 votes, making it an effective law.
The temporary five-year legislation grants Israeli courts the permission to order the detention of children under 14 in closed facilities if sentenced to alleged “terrorism or terrorist activities.”
The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah) said that the fresh law “permits Israeli authorities to sentence minors as young as 12 to imprisonment, including the possibility of a life sentence, if convicted of murder or attempted murder”.
THIS IS A 13 YEAR OLD CHILD THAT WAS HELD IN AN ISRAELI PRISON FOR 7 MONTHS
Look at the state they left him in 💔 pic.twitter.com/jzSHCMwfIb
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) October 16, 2024
Adalah noted that Palestinian children under 12 in the occupied West Bank are already subjected to such measures, while the new law will affect Palestinian citizens in Israel and residents of East Jerusalem.
Based on the statement by the Knesset, the law also entails a three-year provision, allowing courts to incarcerate children in prison instead of juvenile amenities, for up to 10 days, which can be extended, if they are deemed dangerous or pose a threat to others.
“The recent passage of these laws signals a dangerous escalation in Israel’s crackdown on Palestinian rights, framed under the guise of counter-terrorism,” Adalah said in a statement, stressing that they enable Israel to “collectively punish Palestinians.”
“By embedding apartheid-like policies into law, the Knesset further institutionalized systemic oppression, in contravention of both international law and basic human and constitutional rights,” the statement by the rights organization read.
Look how small he is!! He is literally a baby..
⭕ The child captive, Zain Sharha, was released from Megiddo prison after being held captive for 10 months, longer than the initially reported period of 7 months, as detailed by Silwanic. pic.twitter.com/F4MlCWx5xp
— Palestine Captives 𓂆 (@Palestinecapti1) May 31, 2024
A Long-Time Policy
Despite countless United Nations resolutions and international accords that ban the incarceration of children, Israel continues to detain and imprison Palestinian children in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, under inhumane conditions.
The Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, estimated in February that around 460 children have been detained in about five months.
It added that about 9,000 Palestinians were detained in Israeli jails as of the end of January compared to 5,250 before the onset of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza on October 7.
The child Nemir, the youngest prisoner from Gaza was released today. He was seriously injured after being shot multiple times by the occupation forces. pic.twitter.com/FOyg70evlt
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) April 15, 2024
Discriminatory Laws
Earlier on Thursday, the Knesset passed yet another controversial law that allows the deportation of family members of Palestinians involved in attacks, including Israeli citizens, to the Gaza Strip and elsewhere.
The legislation, sponsored by Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky, is widely seen to be targeting Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinian residents of the occupied East Jerusalem.
On Tuesday, the Israeli Knesset passed another law allowing the sacking of Arab teachers who show support for attacks against Israelis, the Anadolu news agency reported.
The legislation “grants the director-general of the Education Ministry the authority to fire, without prior notice, teachers who have either been convicted of a security or terror offense, or have ‘published a direct call to carry out an act of terrorism or published words of praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of terrorism [or] support for or identification with it’,” the Times of Israel reported.
The law also allows the ministry “to cut or reduce funding for schools in which such expressions have been found.” That is if it has been concluded that “the management of the educational institution knew or should have known about their existence.”
(PC, Anadolu)
