Occupied Jerusalem — Political leaders in the Israeli regime on Sunday agreed to submit a draft bill to parliament enabling capital punishment for “terrorists”, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party said in a statement.
Although the statement’s wording was not explicit, the bill is aimed at Palestinian resistance members, in line with Lieberman’s past pledges.
“Today the death penalty bill for terrorists [resistance fighters] has finally been approved by the coalition leaders’ forum,” the Hebrew-language announcement said, referring to the heads of the six political parties which comprise the governing coalition.
“The legislation should be very simple and very clear — a terrorist [resistance member] who comes to kill innocent civilians will be sentenced to death,” it said.
In the most recent such deal, Israel in 2011 released more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held captive in the Gaza Strip for five years.
The statement did not set a date for the bill to be put before parliament.
It would need to pass four readings before becoming law, and could then risk being struck down by the Supreme Court.
Israeli military law in the occupied West Bank allows for the death penalty, but rarely delivers a death sentence and never carries it out, Haaretz newspaper says.
— AFP