Anonymous wrote:The Forward is America’s leading voice in Jewish journalism.

The Forward: An abominable new Israeli law is a death warrant for democracy
https://forward.com/opinion/816085/death-penalty-law-israel/

A bill mandating the death penalty for terrorists, which the Knesset passed into law on Monday, is the latest dismal illustration of Israel’s democratic decline.

Promoted by the ultranationalist firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — whose resume includes convictions for supporting terrorism of the Jewish kind — the bill is plainly aimed at Palestinians only. It specifically targets West Bank residents. who are tried in military courts, which Jews are not. It will drag Israel another few steps further away from the democratic world, almost all of which — with the notable exception of the United States — has abandoned the death penalty as inhumane and flawed in its irreversibility.

This abomination passed by 62 to 48 votes, rejected by the key parties of the moderate opposition.

Netanyahu has spent years trying to weaken Israel’s judiciary and force it into compliance with his will, because he is on trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. His coalition has attempted to pass laws that would enable the government to appoint judges and also to overrule them by a simple majority in the Knesset. As he attempts to intimidate the legal system into letting him off the hook, Netanyahu has made an art of inciting his followers against prosecutors and judges, portraying them as part of a leftist deep-state conspiracy against him.

What of the fact that a death penalty for Arab terrorists is all but certain to further mar Israel’s international standing? In an extraordinary development, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy and Britain — some of Israel’s most significant trading partners — all urged Israel to abandon the bill, saying: “We are particularly worried about the de facto discriminatory character of the bill.”

Anonymous wrote:This is a brand new law that passed today.

Amnesty International has come out against it:

It speaks volumes to the extent of Israel’s dehumanization of Palestinians that this law has passed in the same month in which Israeli military attorney general dropped all charges against Israeli soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee – a decision celebrated by the Prime Minister and several ministers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, was among those who voted in favor of the law.


The UN OHCHR has come out against it:

UN experts* today urged Israel to withdraw a bill proposing the mandatory death penalty for terrorist acts, which would violate the right to life and discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The Bill would introduce two tracks for the death penalty. In the occupied West Bank, the death penalty would be imposed by military courts under military law for terrorist acts causing the death of a person, even if not intended. In Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, the death penalty would apply under Israeli criminal law but only for the “intentional killing of Israeli citizens or residents”.

Under both tracks, vague and overbroad definitions of terrorist offenses under Israeli law would apply, which can include conduct that is not genuinely terrorist, and the death penalty would be mandatory.


Ireland has come out against it:

In a statement, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said Ireland condemned the law and urged Israel not to proceed with it.

“Ireland is consistently and strongly opposed to the use of the death penalty in all cases and in all circumstances,” she said. “I am particularly concerned about the de facto discriminatory nature of the Bill as it relates to Palestinians.”