JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 Israel\u2019s Parliament on Monday passed a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis.<\/p>\n
The bill\u2019s passage marked the culmination of a yearslong push by Israel\u2019s far-right to escalate punishment for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offenses against Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the chamber to vote yes in person.<\/p>\n
The law makes the death penalty \u2014 by hanging \u2014 the default punishment for West Bank<\/a> Palestinians convicted for nationalistic killings. The law also gives Israeli courts the authority to impose either the death penalty or life imprisonment on its own citizens. It is not retro-active and will apply only to future cases.<\/p>\n The measure has been harshly condemned by Israeli and Palestinian rights groups, who say it is racist, draconian and unlikely to deter attacks by Palestinian attackers. <\/p>\n When the measure passed, the chamber erupted into cheers. Israel\u2019s firebrand minister of national security<\/a>, Itamar Ben-Gvir,<\/a> who spearheaded the push for the legislation, brandished a bottle in celebration. Netanyahu sat motionless.<\/p>\n Far-right lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech, one of the bill\u2019s original sponsors, wiped tears from her eyes. Har-Melech\u2019s first husband was killed by a Palestinian militant attack in the West Bank.<\/p>\n Within minutes, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said it had petitioned Israel\u2019s highest court challenging the law, calling it \u201cdiscriminatory by design\u201d and \u201cenacted without legal authority\u201d over West Bank Palestinians. <\/p>\n The legislation calls for the death penalty to go into effect within 30 days.<\/p>\n Directly before voting began, Ben Gvir made a bellowing speech from the podium, describing the law as long overdue and a sign of strength and national pride.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom today, every terrorist will know, and the whole world will know, that whoever takes a life, the State of Israel will take their life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On his lapel he wore the pin that has become his signature: a small metal noose.<\/p>\n What\u2019s in the bill?<\/p>\n Critics include Israelis and Palestinians, international rights groups and the United Nations. They say that it establishes a hierarchy between Israeli court systems in a way that will confine the death penalty to Palestinians convicted of murdering Jewish citizens of Israel.<\/p>\n The bill instructs military courts to mete out the sentence to those convicted of murdering an Israeli \u201cas an act of terror.\u201d Such courts try only West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens. The bill says military courts can change the penalty to life imprisonment in \u201cspecial circumstances.\u201d <\/p>\n Israeli courts, which try Israeli citizens, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, can choose between life imprisonment or the death penalty in cases of murder aiming to harm Israeli citizens and residents or \u201cwith the intent of rejecting the existence of the state of Israel.\u201d <\/p>\n Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute\u2019s Center for Democratic Values and Institutions, said this distinction is problematic.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will apply in territories with military courts, which are Palestinian courts. It will apply in Israeli courts, but only to terrorist activities that are motivated by the wish to undermine the existence of Israel. That means Jews will not be indicted under this law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Critiques of the bill<\/p>\n Cohen added that under international law, Israel\u2019s parliament should not be legislating in the West Bank, which is not sovereign Israeli territory. Many in Netanyahu\u2019s far-right coalition seek to annex the West Bank<\/a> to Israel.<\/p>\n The lawyer for the parliament\u2019s National Security Committee raised several concerns during earlier deliberations, noting that it does not allow clemency, contradicting international conventions. The bill says executions should be carried out within 90 days of sentencing.<\/p>\n Though Israel technically has the death penalty on the books as a possible punishment for acts of genocide, espionage during wartime and certain terror offenses, the country hasn\u2019t put anyone to death since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann<\/a> in 1962. <\/p>\n