Death sentence: Israel passed a law on executions for terrorists

The Israeli Parliament (Knesset) has passed a law on the death penalty for terrorists. It is assumed that the punishment will be carried out within 90 days after the sentencing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also voted for the bill. For more information about the death penalty, as well as the reasons for its adoption, see the Izvestia article.

The death penalty in Israel

The Israeli Knesset has passed a law providing for the death penalty for terrorists. This was reported by The Jerusalem Post. It is also known that 62 deputies voted for the document, 48 against, and one abstained. Benjamin Netanyahu was among those who advocated the adoption of the law.

The proposal for the death penalty for terrorists came from deputies of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, which is headed by the country's Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Immediately before the voting began, Ben-Gvir delivered a loud speech from the rostrum, calling the law long overdue, and also a sign of strength and national pride.: "From today on, every terrorist will know, and the whole world will know, that whoever ends someone else's life, the State of Israel will take their life."

The law provides for the imposition of the death penalty by hanging for a criminal who intentionally killed a person during a terrorist act. The execution is expected to take place within 90 days of sentencing. According to the document, convicted terrorists will be held in a separate detention facility, they will be able to be visited only by authorized persons, and the meeting with a lawyer will take place via video link.

According to Reuters, the law will affect Palestinians against whom military courts have issued sentences in absentia in cases of terrorist attacks. The document also establishes that the death penalty for terrorism can be imposed in some cases by civil courts against Israeli Jews. However, this measure of punishment can only be carried out if the defendants acted "with the aim of denying the existence" of the State of Israel. Sentencing will require a simple majority of the judges, rather than a unanimous decision, and the right to appeal will be eliminated.

"Today, the State of Israel is changing the rules of the game. Those who kill Jews will no longer be able to breathe and enjoy the conditions in prison. This is a day of justice for those killed, a day of deterring enemies," Ben-Gvir said after the vote.

The last time the death penalty was applied in Israel was in 1962 against Adolf Eichmann, also known as the "architect of the Holocaust." He was responsible for the persecution, expulsion, and deportation of Jews, resulting in the deaths of up to 6 million people.

Criticism

The adoption of the death penalty law in Israel immediately provoked active criticism. Military officials and some ministry heads have already said that the bill violates international law and could also subject Israeli personnel to arrest abroad.

Leading Israeli human rights organizations considered the adopted document "an act of institutionalized discrimination and racist violence against Palestinians."

The Palestinian Authority stressed that the bill violates all international agreements, including the Fourth Geneva Convention (on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War) and reveals the racist and fascist nature of Israeli legislation. The Palestinian authorities also called on the international community and legal institutions to respond immediately, hold the authors and supporters of the initiative accountable, put them on sanctions and terrorist lists, and boycott institutions that support such decisions.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel (2011-2017) Dan Shapiro said that the law causes reputational damage to the Jewish state and is unfair because it presupposes double standards of its application towards Palestinians and Israelis.

"It is very sad to see how Ben-Gvir welcomes the adoption of this law, which provides for the death penalty for Palestinian terrorists, but not for Jewish ones. It should be expected that the [Israeli] Supreme Court will repeal it," Shapiro wrote on his page on the social network X, adding that the adoption of this law is related to the election campaign of the Otzma Yehudit party, which intends to strengthen its position before the elections to the Israeli parliament this fall.

Why did Israel introduce the death penalty?

Orientalist Kirill Semenov believes that the main point of the law is to prevent a repeat of what happened with Hamas — an exchange of prisoners or, "as they say in Israel, an exchange of hostages." The expert also adds that Israel was forced to return to Hamas many representatives of the Palestinian resistance, not only from Hamas, but from Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and other groups, including those affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who were serving life sentences.

"To prevent this from happening again and to ensure that the most implacable enemies of Israel, as they believe in Tel Aviv, receive their punishment, they decided to adopt a law on the death penalty and at the same time execute it as quickly as possible so that prisoners would not have time to exchange," the orientalist explains.

Orientalist Tural Kerimov suggests that the new law allows the Israeli justice system to circumvent many legal norms, since terrorist cases are handled according to special procedures.

"The most important controversial point is that almost anyone detained under this article or on suspicion of it, regardless of the actions he is charged with, can be sentenced to death," the expert explains, adding that a huge number of people, including children, are currently being held in Jewish prisons on charges of terrorism. and the women who didn't kill anyone, but were still detained under the terrorism article.

At the same time, according to the orientalist, the main motivation for the adoption of this law was to protect national security, public order, as well as the suppression and resistance of the occupation of Israel by Arabs and Palestinians.

— I believe that the main goal is to suppress the resistance and force the Palestinians to abandon it under threat of death penalty. It's one thing when they can be killed by an Israeli sniper's bullet or during shootouts and clashes, it's another when they can simply be grabbed on the street, accused of terrorism and potentially sentenced to hanging," the expert explains.

In addition, the orientalist sees this decision as a continuation of Israel's plan to completely absorb Palestine. In his opinion, there are few chances that the law will be repealed at the Supreme Court level. He attributes this to the fact that legal disputes in Israel can last for years or even decades.

—And when issues relate to national security, and this law has been promoted under this very "sauce," decisions are almost always made to support these measures," Tural Kerimov believes.

He also adds that exceptions can still be made, which, in his opinion, will be more radical. As such a measure, the expert does not exclude the appearance of a more specific definition of who may fall under this measure.