RAMALLAH, (PIC)
In a step carrying deep political and legal implications, reflecting a rapid shift toward greater hardline and extremism within the Israeli establishment, the Knesset approved, on Monday evening, a law allowing the imposition of the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners, in a context widely seen as redefining the system of punishments in a way that serves political and ideological goals beyond the traditional legal framework.
The law was approved by a majority of 62 members versus 48 opponents, with one member abstaining, amid celebratory scenes within the right-wing camp, where the extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir appeared distributing drinks to members, describing the passing of the law as a “historic day”.
In a comment via the X platform, he said, “We made history, we promised and delivered”, referring to his previous electoral pledges to make the death penalty one of the pillars of his political program.
The law stipulates imposing the death penalty or life imprisonment on anyone who deliberately causes the killing of a person “with the intent to harm an Israeli citizen or resident and with the aim of ending the existence of the State of Israel.” However, the legal wording, according to observers, shows a clear discriminatory nature, as it allows the application of the punishment in practice on Palestinians without Israelis, which entrenches legal duality between Palestinians under occupation and settlers subject to civil law.
On this, Knesset member from the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality party, Ofer Cassif, said that “the bill effectively stipulates its application only to Arab citizens if they are convicted of carrying out killing operations.”
He added that the sponsors and supporters of the bill adopt a position based on denying the existence of what is known as “Jewish terrorism”, while classifying Palestinians in general, including children, within the framework of “terrorism”.
The law distinguishes between its application in the West Bank, where the death penalty is considered a primary option within military courts, and general Israeli law, while granting judges limited margin to replace it with life imprisonment in “exceptional cases” requiring special justification.
It also grants the Minister of Security broad powers to determine the court of jurisdiction, whether civil or military, and abolishes the requirement of judicial unanimity to issue a death sentence.
According to the text, the death sentence is to be carried out within 90 days of its issuance, with the possibility of postponing execution by decision of the Prime Minister for limited periods, provided that their total does not exceed 180 days, and that execution is carried out by hanging inside prisons.
This legislation comes amid the presence of more than 9,300 Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons, including hundreds of children and women, at a time when accusations by human rights organizations against Israel are escalating regarding torture, medical negligence, and starvation against prisoners, which has led to the death of a number of martyrs among them in the recent period.
From a human rights perspective, the law sparked a wave of sharp criticism, as the Association for Civil Rights in Israel considered it a “retaliatory” legislation designed to apply punishment selectively and in a factional manner, confirming that it lacks constitutional basis and contradicts basic laws that prohibit discrimination.
The association announced filing an appeal before the Supreme Court, based on the lack of jurisdiction of the Knesset to legislate in the West Bank, as it is occupied land not subject to Israeli sovereignty.
The law also faced criticism inside Israel, as about 1,200 Israeli figures, including Nobel Prize laureates, former army officials, and former Supreme Court judges, announced in February their strong opposition to it, considering it a “moral stain”.
Despite the amendments introduced to the bill, ambiguity remains regarding the mechanism of implementing the law and the legal guarantees for prisoners, while observers indicate that the law grants the Israeli Minister of National Security broad executive powers, including the possibility of implementing execution without a request from the public prosecution or collective approval from military judges.
Among the main provisions of the law on executing Palestinian prisoners as approved by the Knesset:
-Execution by hanging, implementing the punishment by hanging by a masked prison officer, to ensure the anonymity of the killer and his protection.
-Absolute immunity, granting those carrying out executions full criminal and civil immunity, which turns the jailer into both “judge and executioner” at the same time.
-Execution without appeal, prohibiting any mitigation or cancellation of the sentence after its issuance, and a death sentence can be issued without a request from the Attorney General, with mandatory implementation within 90 days from the final decision.
-Total isolation, detaining those sentenced in underground solitary cells, and preventing visits to them until the moment of ascending the gallows.
On the international level, the law was met with wide Palestinian and Arab condemnations, and both the Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministries considered the new Israeli law a dangerous escalation and a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, and an undermining of fair trial guarantees.
For its part, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif affirmed that “this crime once again unmasks the bloody image of this occupation, which has not been satisfied with its ongoing crimes, but seeks to legalize criminality and killing, and grant it a false and exposed legislative cover,” stressing its “absolute rejection of everything issued by the occupation in terms of measures or decisions to legitimize the killing of Palestinians.”
It said, “This decision is nothing but a desperate attempt by the occupation to give a legal character to killing, and it does not change its reality in any way, it also reflects the state of brutality and moral collapse of this entity, and its violation of all human values.”
Al-Azhar called on the international community and human rights organizations to “assume their moral and legal responsibilities toward these measures that disregard international law and international norms.”
Previously, Israeli Channel 12 quoted senior European officials as saying that “Israel is rapidly sliding toward a moral abyss and we cannot stand by as spectators regarding this measure,” and they also charged that “the law lacks even the possibility of pardon and establishes two different judicial systems, one for Jews and the other for Arabs.”
Regarding potential repercussions, they said that Europe is studying imposing a series of sanctions on Israel, topped by canceling the partnership agreement or suspending parts of it, such as trade agreements, technological, economic and scientific cooperation partnerships, in addition to suspending joint political dialogue.
In contrast, the US administration aligned with the law by affirming “respect for Israel’s right to enact its laws, and its penalties for individuals convicted of terrorism,” while indicating the necessity of implementing any punishments within the framework of a fair trial.
Overall, this law reflects a qualitative shift in the tools of control and punishment that Israel adopts in its dealing with Palestinians, in a way that reinforces the presence of the collective punitive and deterrent dimension, and indicates a new phase of reengineering the legal system in a way that serves the project of control and annexation in the occupied territories.
For his part, international law expert Anis Al-Qasem affirmed that the law approved by the Israeli Knesset regarding executing prisoners constitutes a clear violation of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Al-Qasem added, in a statement to Aljazeera.net, that if the prisoners are civilians, they enjoy full protection under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and if they are fighters, they are prisoners of war protected by the Third Geneva Convention, and in both cases they could not be executed in any way.
Al-Qasem stressed that the member states of the Geneva Conventions are legally obligated to act to stop this crime and force Israel to comply with international humanitarian law.
Prisoners and their families have long described occupation prisons as “graveyards of the living”, pointing to the deterioration of the health and psychological conditions of detainees, and the increasing difficulty of daily life inside cells, with reduced food quantities and prevention of visits at various times.
The death penalty has been applied in Israel only once on the Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1962, which makes the current bill an exceptional case reflecting deep transformations within Israeli society and institutions toward more “hatred and oppression against Palestinians,” according to human rights experts.
Palestinians fear that the law may become an internal political tool, used by Ben Gvir to strengthen his image before the ruling coalition and upcoming elections, amid the continuation of the attacks on the Gaza Strip.
