{"id":45084,"date":"2025-11-13T12:17:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45084"},"modified":"2025-11-13T12:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:17:15","slug":"amnesty-blasts-israeli-death-penalty-bill-as-institutionalized-discrimination-against-palestinians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/13\/amnesty-blasts-israeli-death-penalty-bill-as-institutionalized-discrimination-against-palestinians\/","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty blasts Israeli death penalty bill as \u2018institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Palestinian<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Posted in Politics and Movements: International<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A leader at the human rights group called the proposal \u201ca dangerous and dramatic step backwards and a product of ongoing impunity for Israel\u2019s system of apartheid and its genocide in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by\u00a0Jessica Corbett<\/a><\/strong> November 12, 2025 (therewlnws.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palestinian lawyers protest against the proposed Israeli death penalty law in front of the Judicial Court, in the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Hebron on November 9, 2025. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get fearless, uncompromising truth in your inbox. Subscribe to The Real News.<\/strong>Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Common<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Nov. 11, 2025<\/a>.<\/em> It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Israel<\/a> continues its \u201csilent genocide<\/a>\u201d in the Gaza<\/a> Strip one month into a supposed ceasefire with Hamas<\/a> and Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians<\/a> in the illegally occupied West Bank<\/a> hit a record high<\/a>, Amnesty International<\/a> on Tuesday ripped the advancement of a death penalty<\/a> bill championed<\/a> by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s 120-member Knesset \u201con Monday evening voted 39-16 in favor of the first reading of a controversial government-backed bill sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech,\u201d the Times of Israel<\/em> reported<\/a>. \u201cTwo other death penalty bills, sponsored by Likud MK Nissim Vaturi and Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer, also passed their first readings 36-15 and 37-14.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Son Har-Melech\u2019s bill\u2014which must pass two more readings to become law\u2014would require courts to impose<\/a> the death penalty on \u201ca person who caused the death of an Israeli citizen deliberately or through indifference, from a motive of racism<\/a> or hostility against a population, and with the aim of harming the state of Israel and the national revival of the Jewish people in its land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Hamas\u2014which Israel considers a terrorist organization\u2014and the Palestine<\/a> Liberation Organization slammed the bill, with Palestinian National Council Speaker Rawhi Fattouh calling it \u201ca political, legal, and humanitarian crime,\u201d according to<\/a> Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amnesty International\u2019s senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, said<\/a> in a statement that \u201cthere is no sugarcoating this; a majority of 39 Israeli Knesset members approved in a first reading a bill that effectively mandates courts to impose the death penalty exclusively against Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amnesty opposes the death penalty under all circumstances and tracks such killings annually. The international human rights<\/a> group has also forcefully spoken out against Israeli abuse of Palestinians, including the genocide in Gaza<\/a> that has killed over 69,182 people as of Tuesday\u2014the official tally from local health officials that experts warn is likely a significant undercount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe international community must exert maximum pressure on the Israeli government to immediately scrap this bill and dismantle all laws and practices that contribute to the system of apartheid<\/a> against Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKnesset members should be working to abolish the death penalty, not broadening its application,\u201d Guevara Rosas argued. \u201cThe death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, and an irreversible denial of the right to life. It should not be imposed in any circumstances, let alone weaponized as a blatantly discriminatory tool of state-sanctioned killing, domination, and oppression. Its mandatory imposition and retroactive application would violate clear prohibitions set out under international human rights law and standards on the use of this punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe shift towards requiring courts to impose the death penalty against Palestinians is a dangerous and dramatic step backwards and a product of ongoing impunity for Israel\u2019s system of apartheid and its genocide<\/a> in Gaza<\/a>,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt did not occur in a vacuum. It comes in the context of a drastic increase in the number of unlawful killings of Palestinians, including acts that amount to extrajudicial executions, over the last decade, and a horrific rise of deaths in custody of Palestinians since October 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guevara Rosas noted that \u201cnot only have such acts been greeted with near-total impunity but with legitimacy and support and, at times, glorification. It also comes amidst a climate of incitement to violence against Palestinians as evidenced by the surge in state-backed settler attacks in the occupied West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> launched the devastating assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israeli soldiers and settlers have also killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the United Nations<\/a> Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netanyahu is now wanted by the International Criminal Court<\/a> for war crimes<\/a> and crimes against humanity, and Israel faces an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice<\/a>. The ICJ separately said<\/a> last year that Israel\u2019s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful and must end; the Israeli government has shown no sign of accepting that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Amnesty campaigner said Tuesday that \u201cit is additionally concerning that the law authorizes military courts to impose death sentences on civilians, that cannot be commuted, particularly given the unfair nature of the trials held by these courts, which have a conviction rate of over 99% for Palestinian defendants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As CNN<\/em> reported<\/a> Monday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The UN has previously condemned Israel\u2019s military courts in the occupied West Bank, saying that \u201cPalestinians\u2019 right to due process guarantees have been violated\u201d for decades, and denounced \u201cthe lack of fair trial in the occupied West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN experts said last year that, \u201cin the occupied West Bank, the functions of police, investigator, prosecutor, and judge are vested in the same hierarchical institution\u2014the Israeli military.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Pointing to the hanging of Nazi official and Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann, Guevara Rosas highlighted that \u201con paper, Israeli law has traditionally restricted the use of the death penalty for exceptional crimes, like genocide and crimes against humanity, and the last court-ordered execution was carried out in 1962.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe bill\u2019s stipulation that courts should impose the death penalty on individuals convicted of nationally motivated murder with the intent of \u2018harming the state of Israel or the rebirth of the Jewish people\u2019 is yet another blatant manifestation of Israel\u2019s institutionalized discrimination<\/a> against Palestinians, a key pillar of Israel\u2019s apartheid system, in law and in practice,\u201d she asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe international community must exert maximum pressure on the Israeli government to immediately scrap this bill and dismantle all laws and practices that contribute to the system of apartheid against Palestinians,\u201d she added. \u201cIsraeli authorities must ensure Palestinian prisoners and detainees are treated in line with\u00a0international law<\/a>, including the prohibition against\u00a0torture<\/a>\u00a0and other ill-treatment, and are provided with fair trial guarantees. They must also take concrete steps towards abolishing the death penalty for all crimes and all people.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett is a staff writer for Common Dreams. Follow her on Twitter: @corbett_jessica.More by Jessica Corbett<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted in Politics and Movements: International A leader at the human rights group called the proposal \u201ca dangerous and dramatic step backwards and a product of ongoing impunity for Israel\u2019s system of apartheid and its genocide in Gaza.\u201d by\u00a0Jessica Corbett November 12, 2025 (therewlnws.com) Palestinian lawyers protest against the proposed… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45084"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45085,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45084\/revisions\/45085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}