Extra-Judicial
Executions Never Stopped: New Attempts Before Israeli Knesset to
Legitimize Killing of Palestinians
The Israeli
Knesset intends to vote on Wednesday, 03 January 2018, to amend the
Penal Code in order to legalize the use of death penalty against
those involved in murders while carrying out "terrorist
operations”. The bill was presented before the Knesset on 30
October 2017 by three Israeli extremist parliamentarians: Robert
Eltov, Oded Forer and Yuli Leminovsky.
The bill
stipulates that "the Minister of Defense orders the commander of
the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the division to give orders to:
1- the Military Court in the division to have the power to sentence
death penalty without requiring the consensus of the Military Court,
but only the ordinary majority; 2- No other court in the division has
the right to commute a final death sentence issued by the military
court in the division.”
The
explanation for the amendment says, “Releasing terrorists following
a period of their imprisonment (in reference to prisoner exchange
deals with the Palestinian armed groups) due to carrying out terrible
operations sends a reverse message that does not contribute to
fighting terrorism and strengthening the Israeli deterrence
capability. The bill aims at creating a meaningful deterrence and
showing Israel is tightening up its policies and no longer tolerates
such crimes.”
PCHR
emphasizes that such repeated bills are an attempt to legitimize a
current status, which is the policy of assassinations and
extra-judicial executions carried out according to direct orders
directly from the highest decision makers in the Israeli forces
against the Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
PCHR has followed many statements which stressed use of
assassinations and lethal force when dealing with any danger threats
the Israeli soldiers. PCHR and media also documented scenes of
extra-judicial executions and assassinations, which undoubtedly
confirm the existence of an extra-judicial executions policy
practiced by the Israeli forces.
While
following up the bill which legitimizes the Israeli killing, the
Palestinian memory recalls the killing scene of young man Ibrahim Abu
Thurayah, who was killed twice by the Israeli forces. The first time
when the Israeli bombing caused the amputation of his legs during the
Israeli offensive on Gaza in 2008 while the second was when he was
shot dead by the Israeli snipers to the head during his participation
in a protest near the border fence in December 2017.
The cruel
scenes of dozens of cold-blooded killings by Israeli soldiers
continue to haunt the Palestinian memory, such as the scene of the
Israeli soldier Eleazar Azariah, who in cold blood killed the
Palestinian civilian Abed al-Fattah al-Sharif in March 2016. Abed
al-Fattah was directly hit with a live bullet to the head while lying
on the ground motionless.
It should be
noted that the policy of assassinations and extra-judicial executions
are adopted by the Israeli forces as PCHR has monitored the
implementation of hundreds of assassinations that claimed the lives
of thousands of Palestinian civilians. Moreover, PCHR monitored
dozens of extra-judicial executions since 2014, most of them were
killed without posing any real threat to the Israeli soldiers, and
some were killed on mere suspicion.
It is
noteworthy that tabling the bill was one of the election promises by
the Israeli War Minister, Knesset Member and Leader of the extremist
“Yisrael Beiteinu”
Party, Avigdor Lieberman. According to the Israeli media, this racist
law is supported by a number of extremist ministers in the Israeli
government: Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked, Minister of
Agriculture Uri Yehuda Ariel, Minister of Culture Miri Regev,
Minister of Science Danny Danon and Minister of Immigration Ze'ev
Elkin.The above-mentioned facts reveal two things; First, Israel
never stopped using death penalty but extra-judicially through
summary executions and what Israel is now trying to do is to
legitimize such crime. It should be noted that the idea of codifying
crimes is an Israeli systematic policy. This idea is used by
Israel legitimize the settlement activities, house demolitions, and
confiscation of civilians’ properties. All of these practices
are war crimes but legalized by Israel against Palestinians according
to applicable laws and upheld by Judicial rulings. Second, this
attempt confirms that Israel is an apartheid state ruled by racists.
Moreover, the submitted bill, which is supported by the government
ministers, has worked on applying death penalty on Palestinians only
and not Israelis, even if this was not mentioned in text, it is seen
on the ground as this amendment shall be applied within the military
courts in the oPt. This scene recalls the laws of the apartheid state
in South Africa.
A similar
bill was previously rejected by the Israeli Knesset in 2015. At that
time, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who recommended
his Party Members in the Knesset not to vote for the bill, which only
received 6 votes, commented that the bill needed an amendment and
prolonged discussions. He added then that he and his extremist
(Likud) party accepted the bill in principle and the disagreement was
only about details.
It should be
noted that the death penalty is codified in the Israeli military laws
and decisions, but is optional and not mandatory for the judge.
Following the occupation of the oPt in 1967, the Israeli
authorities issued 2 decisions (268 and 159) in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip in 1967 and 1968 respectively. According to the decisions,
the death penalty becomes optional and not mandatory for the judge.
Therefore, death penalty can be replaced by life imprisonment
or hard labor for
life.
The Israeli
judiciary has applied life imprisonment instead of death penalty,
constituting a stable precedent over the past decades. Those who
presented this bill are attempting to cancel this precedent, bring
the death penalty to life, and facilitate sentencing it without
requiring the consensus of the judicial body to issue the death
sentence.
It should be
noted that the death penalty was officially applied once upon a
decision by an Israeli court in 1962 against Adolf Eichmann, a senior
officer in the Nazi German Army during World War II.
PCHR raises
the alarm about the legitimization of the Israeli killing because it
paves the way towards committing more murders and will be used
as a display justified in the name of strengthening
“deterrence” as called by the bill. PCHR confirms that the
suggested amendment violates Israel’s obligations under Article (6)
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
which sets conditions to apply the death penalty not available in the
Israeli military courts such as: the fair trial conditions, to be
presented before natural judge and the endorsement of the death
penalty by the consensus of the judicial body and not only by
majority (as suggested by the amendment submitted to the Knesset.)
Thus, PCHR
calls upon the UN and High Contracting Parties and Signatory
Parties to the human rights conventions, particularly the ICCPR, to
ensure that Israel respects human rights in the oPt and ends its
interference and racist actions against Palestinians.
PCHR also
calls upon the European Union (EU) to take serious steps to prevent
enacting such law based on Israel’s obligations under the
Israel-EU Association Agreement.
Moreover,
PCHR calls upon all anti-death penalty groups and organizations to
work to prevent enacting such law and emerge summary execution and
assassination crimes into its focus circle for constituting a de
facto acknowledgment of death penalty that is way dangerous than the
legal acknowledgment as it grants an absolute power to the
soldiers to issue and apply the death sentence.
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