Death penalty law targeting Palestinians consolidates Israel’s apartheid system

Israel’s death penalty law for Palestinian prisoners in the occupied West Bank has now gone into effect after an Israeli army commander signed a military order. It follows the 30 March vote in the Knesset. National security minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party initiated the vote but it received overwhelming cross-party support.

Following the passing of the bill, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) submitted a sanctions recommendation to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It called for the sanction of sixty-two Israeli Knesset members responsible for passing and adopting the law.

This law consolidates more clearly than ever before the extent of Israel’s apartheid judicial system, whereby Palestinians can be sentenced to death and Israelis convicted of the same crime cannot.

It is an entrenchment of Israel’s genocidal policies that are prevalent not just in Gaza, but across the occupied Palestinian territory. Once again, Israel’s unchecked impunity after years of genocide has allowed it to continue to violate international norms.

The law means that there is now a mandatory death penalty for ‘terrorist acts’, that does not require judicial unanimity, with executions to be carried out by hanging within 90 days of confirmation by the Israeli Prison Service.

Individuals sentenced to death will be held in a separate facility with no visits except from authorised personnel, with legal consultations conducted only by video link. Harrowingly, many Israeli parliamentarians including Ben Gvir wore noose-shaped lapel badges during the campaign to get the bill passed, and celebrated with bottles of champagne in the Knesset.

Death penalty based on citizenship, not offence

This law only applies to military courts, which only deal with West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens. This means the law will be used to kill Palestinians, but Israelis who commit terrorist acts would not be held to the same legal standards, and would not face the death penalty.

This is especially noteworthy, considering the current Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, was previously arrested on suspicion of attempting to blow up a highway in Israel with 700 litres of gasoline. Meanwhile, Ben Gvir himself has been convicted of supporting Israeli terrorist organisations and having a portrait of an Israeli terrorist in his office, Baruch Goldstein.

While some Western governments have expressed their ‘deep concern’ over the bill, the response remains perfunctory. Countries including the UK did not use diplomatic levers to influence Israel robustly and the result is an apartheid law of unimaginable bias and cruelty.

Jonathan Purcell, ICJP’s head of public affairs and communications, said:

Israel is a rogue, pariah state. We’ve been saying this for literally years now, but the more the UK government wrings its hands, the further Israel will entrench its apartheid and genocidal practices. We called on the UK government to sanction the Israeli lawmakers responsible for passing this death penalty law and yet they did nothing.

Now, a law exists where 100% of people killed will be Palestinian, mirroring apartheid South Africa where 95% of those killed were Black. It is very clear that the UK government and others standing idly by are on the wrong side of history.

Featured image via Erik Marmor / Getty Images