Original article: Israel avanza en pena de muerte aplicable a palestinos y ministro de Netanyahu celebra en el Parlamento
The Israeli Parliament (Knesset) has made significant progress in advancing a controversial bill that would allow the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, a measure celebrated by a minister of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This minister, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, known for his far-right views, had called upon all political factions to support the legislation.
In a late-night vote on Monday—the first of four required for the bill to become law—the proposal passed with 39 votes in favor and 16 against, out of a total of 120 legislators.
Following the announcement of the outcome, Ben-Gvir, whose party Jewish Power pushed the initiative, began distributing ‘baklava’ among those present, a sweet treat often associated with celebrations in the region.
According to The Times of Israel, distributing this sweet has been seen in Palestinian streets as a celebration of attacks against Israel, while in Israel it has become «synonymous with the celebration of murderous violence.»
The proposal stems from coalition agreements in 2022 between Netanyahu (Likud) and Ben-Gvir (Jewish Power) to form the current far-right Israeli government.
The bill states that the death penalty will apply to those who kill Israelis out of «racism» and with the intent to harm the State of Israel and the revival of the Jewish people in their land, which has raised concerns that it won’t apply to Israelis who kill Palestinians under similar conditions.
According to the cited media, the bill also establishes that judges may impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis for «nationalist reasons» and allows judges serving in the military courts of the West Bank to impose death sentences by a simple majority rather than a unanimous decision. Additionally, it removes the possibility for regional military commanders to commute such sentences.
«Those who murdered, raped, and abducted our sons and daughters do not deserve to see the light of day, and their sentence should be death,» stated Minister Ben-Gvir in a statement.
He emphasized that «the death penalty law is not only a moral and just measure but also fundamental for the security of the State.»
In his view, the regulation will serve as a deterrent against «Arab terrorism.»
«Once the law is finally approved, terrorists will be released only to go to hell,» he asserted.
It is important to note that Israel abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954, and the only person executed in Israel after a civil trial was Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Nazi Holocaust, in 1962.
The bill is set to go to a parliamentary committee for further discussion before a second and third vote. However, its passage into law is not guaranteed, as several parties expressed their opposition during the initial vote on Monday.
The opposition leader, Yair Lapid, was quoted by Israeli media saying he would not vote in favor of the bill.
The Palestinian national political group, the PLO, condemned the vote, and the president of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, described the bill as a «political, legal, and humanitarian crime.»
HAMAS Warns That Israel Seeks to Legalize Systematic Murder of Palestinians
Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance Movement of Palestine (HAMAS) warned on Tuesday that Israel aims to «legalize the systematic and mass murder» of the Palestinian people through this bill driven by factions of the Zionist far-right.
«The approval in the so-called Zionist Knesset of the death penalty law for Palestinian prisoners is an extension of the racist and criminal approach of the Zionists and an attempt to legitimize the systematic murder of our people living under occupation,» they stated in a statement.
The movement labeled the proposed law as «sadistic» and denounced that its content represents a «flagrant disregard for international law and conventions, including international humanitarian law and human rights principles,» as reported by HispanTV.
In this context, HAMAS called upon the international community, particularly the United Nations (UN), to condemn the move and apply pressure on Israel to withdraw the bill. Additionally, they have requested the establishment of an international commission to visit Israeli prisons and document the conditions of Palestinian prisoners, who have repeatedly reported torture, beatings, and deprivation of food, hygiene products, and sleep.
