On Dec. 18, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published an updated version of the so-called “Death Penalty for Terrorists Bill,” which would allow the state to execute Palestinian detainees who have been judged as having been involved in the 7 October 2023 attacks.
Middle East Eye noted on Dec. 19 that the bill, initiated by MK Limor Son Har Melech of the Ben-Gvir-led Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, initially aimed to allow judges to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis on so-called “nationalistic” grounds. The legislation would not apply to Israelis who kill Palestinians under similar circumstances.
A new addition Ben-Gvir announced, expands the draft legislation to include those accused of perpetrating attacks on 7 October 2023, who will receive the death penalty as a “mandatory sentence.” The sentencing will be classified as “genocide under the Genocide Law,” Ben-Gvir wrote, adding that the court will not be “bound by the prosecution’s position.”
Once a detainee has been officially accused of involvement, he or she will be executed within 90 days by the Israel Prison Service.
Middle East Eye (MEE) uses the word “accused” in its description of Ben-Gvir’s bill, implying that a defendant will be executed without due process, though the word itself doesn’t appear in his statement.
But MEE also notes that rights groups have strongly opposed the controversial bill in light of Israel’s widespread arrest of Palestinians on loose terrorism charges and a surge in reports of torture and deaths of detainees, since it began its genocidal war on Gaza. At least 9,300 Palestinians are currently reported as being held in Israeli prisons, though the true figure is likely higher, as Israel withholds information on hundreds of people its army seized in Gaza.
A “record high” number of 110 Palestinians have died under prison policies implemented by Ben-Gvir, since he took office two and a half years ago. Palestinian groups say that number is almost certainly higher.
Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups—the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club—described the bill to execute Palestinian prisoners as an “unprecedented act of savagery.” The groups accused Israel of aiming to legalize the ongoing killing of prisoners through the bill, saying its approval “is no longer surprising in light of the unprecedented level of savagery practiced by the occupation system.”
