Bethlehem: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has given a nod for Death Penalty Bill which would make it easier for courts to hand death sentences to Palestinians who have killed Israelis or soldiers. Though Israel has a law permitting the death penalty, under the law death penalty may only be imposed by unanimous decision from a panel of three judges. However, no executions have been carried out since 1962.
The bill in question was proposed by Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party, which Netanyahu backed yesterday. This bill would remove the requirement of approval by a panel of three judges, allowing both civilian and military courts to execute Palestinians with a majority decision.
To prepare the legislation for its first reading in the Knesset, the bill is expected to be brought up at the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in the next few days. As reported by Israeli news sites, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, approved passing a bill into law that allows execution of Palestinian prisoners on Sunday.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, currently there are 5,640 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons, of whom 465 are in administrative detention, 53 are female prisoners, 270 are child prisoners, and 50 are under the age of 16.