DaysofPal – Israel’s National Security Committee in the Knesset has approved, in a preliminary reading, a bill allowing the death penalty to be imposed on Palestinian prisoners and those Israel labels as “terrorists.”
The decision came after an emergency meeting held by the committee on Monday to vote on the proposal. The bill has now been referred to the Knesset’s general assembly for debate and further votes in upcoming legislative stages scheduled for next Wednesday.
Following the committee’s approval, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir thanked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, for supporting the measure.
Ben-Gvir described the bill as “a dream come true,” asserting that Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, will have no discretionary authority regarding its implementation.
The bill was originally set for discussion last September but was postponed amid fears that Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza might retaliate by executing Israeli captives. The delay reportedly came at the request of Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for prisoners and missing persons, who warned of possible repercussions for Israeli detainees, as well as from families of captives expressing similar concerns.
According to Israeli media, the explanatory memorandum attached to the bill states that any Palestinian “convicted of murder with a national motive, and under circumstances indicating an intent to harm the State of Israel, shall be sentenced to death, mandatory, not discretionary, and not subject to judicial leniency.”
The proposed legislation also amends existing law to allow the death sentence to be imposed by a majority vote of judges, while prohibiting any reduction or commutation of a final death sentence.
Ben-Gvir had previously declared that “judges should not be allowed to express their opinions on this law,” emphasizing that the legislation must be applied without judicial interference.
The death penalty bill for Palestinian prisoners is not new. It has been repeatedly proposed over the years, most recently in 2022, when Ben-Gvir reintroduced it with several amendments. The Knesset then passed it in a preliminary reading in 2023.
Palestinian political and human rights organizations have widely denounced the renewed approval, seeing it as part of Israel’s growing campaign of repression.
Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups denounced the bill, saying that Israel has long practiced a form of “slow execution” against hundreds of detainees through torture, medical neglect, and inhumane conditions.
They added that the endorsement of such a law is no longer surprising, given what they described as Israel’s “unprecedented brutality” and sense of impunity as a state operating above international law.
The organizations stressed that this measure adds to a series of repressive laws targeting various aspects of Palestinian life, particularly prisoners and detainees.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office called the bill “a dangerous war crime and an extension of Israel’s systematic policy of execution against prisoners.”
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, meanwhile, warned that Israel is now attempting to institutionalize the crime of execution through formal legislation, calling the legislation “unprecedented savagery.”
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