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Amnesty International strongly condemned the bill passed in the first reading by the Israeli Knesset, which mandates the death penalty for crimes linked to ‘nationalist motives.’ The organization says this law will further intensify the ongoing discrimination against Palestinians and will cause serious harm to global efforts to abolish the death penalty.
Amnesty’s Research and Policy Director, Erika Guevara-Rosas, said that this bill clearly targets Palestinians, as the courts would effectively be forced to apply the death penalty only to them. According to her, the death penalty is ‘the most cruel and degrading punishment’ and is a permanent violation of the right to life.
Amnesty says that this law, which advanced with the support of 39 members and 16 opposed, will also apply to past cases and will grant military courts the authority to sentence Palestinian civilians to death. This situation is especially worrying because Israeli military courts have a 99% conviction rate and offer very little guarantee of a fair trial.
The organization has appealed to the international community to put pressure on Israel so that this bill is withdrawn and the rights of Palestinians are protected.