DaysofPal – The Israeli Knesset’s National Security Committee is set to hold a hearing on Wednesday on a bill that would impose the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners within 90 days, with no possibility of appeal, according to Haaretz.
The proposal, pushed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party, would apply to Palestinians accused of killing Israelis, including individuals alleged to have planned or supported attacks. It would not apply to Israeli settlers who kill Palestinians on nationalist grounds, a distinction that exposes the openly racist nature of the legislation.
Under the draft law, execution would require only a simple majority vote in the judicial bodies involved, stripping judges of any discretionary power. The bill eliminates the possibility of reducing the sentence through plea bargains, challenging the ruling, or requesting a pardon.
Once the judgment becomes final, the execution would have to be carried out within just 90 days, a timeframe unprecedented in Israeli legislation and described by its supporters as a way to prevent “any possibility of evading the sentence.”
Newly released details on Tuesday confirmed that executions would be performed by lethal injection, administered by the Israel Prison Service. The Israeli Medical Association stated on Wednesday that doctors are prohibited from participating in executions, a matter now being debated in the Knesset.
The bill was pushed through the National Security Committee on 3 November, triggering condemnation from human rights organizations that warned it entrenches apartheid practices and formalizes discriminatory sentencing. Lawmakers approved the measure in the first of three required Knesset votes earlier this month.
Amnesty International has described the move as a dangerous escalation and a grave setback. It stressed that forcing courts to impose the death penalty exclusively on Palestinians emerges from a climate of systemic impunity. The court noted that the proposed law does not exist in isolation, but forms part of a broader pattern: a sharp rise in unlawful killings of Palestinians over the past decade, including cases amounting to extrajudicial executions, an alarming increase in deaths of Palestinians in Israeli custody since October 2023, and a surge in state-supported settler attacks across the occupied West Bank. These acts, the court said, have not only gone unpunished but have often been accompanied by legislative backing, political endorsement, and even glorification.
Analysts argue that this bill reflects the growing power of far-right factions in Israeli politics and the intensifying calls for harsher measures against Palestinians during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. If the bill proceeds through its remaining readings, Israel will adopt one of the most draconian and discriminatory death penalty laws in the world, a law crafted specifically to target Palestinians and designed to bypass judicial safeguards.
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