Death penalty law for Palestinian terrorists comes into effect in West Bank |
The death penalty law for Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank came into effect Sunday night, after the commander of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen Avi Bluth, signed the military order necessary to enact the measure in the territory.
The order requires that a military court presiding over the prosecution of terrorists whose attacks resulted in the death of a victim apply the death penalty alone as the only available sentence, unless the court finds special circumstances allowing for life imprisonment.
Following the passage of the legislation at the end of March, Defense Minister Israel Katz requested that Bluth approve the military order, which he did on Sunday.
The legislation has been widely condemned as discriminatory since it states explicitly that it does not apply to Israeli citizens or residents of Israel. It also only applies to terror trials in the military courts system, which is used for Palestinians, while Israelis are tried in Israel’s civilian court system.
In addition, one of the three conditions for imposing the death penalty is that the motive of the attacker was to either “negate the existence of the State of Israel or the authority of the military commander in the area” —........