We speak with Sarit Michaeli from the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem following the Knesset’s passage of a new law mandating death by hanging for Palestinians who are convicted of murdering Israelis. Jewish Israelis will not face the same punishment for similar crimes. The law, which further cements Israel’s apartheid system, has drawn condemnation from rights groups and other countries.

“This egregious, draconian law pretends to be somehow … grounded in some sort of objective criteria,” says Michaeli, B’Tselem’s international outreach director. “But essentially, it’s basically specifically written to apply only to Palestinians.”

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Israel is facing a global outcry after the Israeli Knesset approved a death penalty law designed to only apply to Palestinians. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the country’s Supreme Court to strike down the law minutes after it passed, calling it “discriminatory by design.”

AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Tel Aviv, where we’re joined by Sarit Michaeli, international outreach director at the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

Explain what the Knesset just passed, Sarit.

SARIT MICHAELI: Thank you. It’s a privilege being with you, Amy and Nermeen.

So, the Israeli Knesset essentially passed — I’ll simplify — a law that applies only to Palestinians, both in Israel’s civil courts and in the Israeli military courts that are run in the West Bank. And essentially, it means that if Palestinians in these circumstances, in these instances, are found guilty of killing, of murder, with an opposition or an intention that is terroristic in nature, that is “opposed,” quote-unquote, to the state of Israel, then, essentially, there is a death penalty. There are some differences between the two systems, but the basic discriminatory nature, the basic fact that this will be only applied to Palestinians, is across the board, is the same across the board. This shocking, this egregious, draconian law pretends to be somehow based on any sort of — grounded in some sort of objective criteria. But essentially, it’s basically specifically written to apply only to Palestinians.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Sarit, so, it’s written to apply to Palestinians, though Palestinians aren’t specifically named in the law. But could you talk about the fact that Palestinians, unlike Israelis, are already tried in military courts, and what that means, effectively, in terms of their access to justice?

SARIT MICHAELI: Yes. So, of course, Palestinians who live in the occupied West Bank, under Israeli control, are tried by Israeli military courts, where Israel and Israeli soldiers are basically the prosecutors, the judges, and where Israel sets the law, and Israel decides what is right and wrong, what are offenses and what is legitimate. Palestinians do not take part in any sort of decisions that apply to these military courts. So, essentially, it’s basically like a military dictatorship that is a ruling over Palestinians.

And now with the change in Israel’s law, so the new amendment adopted by our parliament, this will mean that if Palestinians are convicted of murder under Israel’s terror laws, then there will be a default death penalty attached to them. There is also a possibility, under very extenuating and rare circumstances, that they will “only,” quote-unquote, face a life sentence, but the default will be a death penalty.

This will also be in a very difficult situation for any sort of a way to challenge it, because there is no real option for appeal. The execution, which will — has already been decided, will happen by hanging, will happen, in most circumstances, within 90 days. So, this, of course, does not leave a lot of room for correcting errors, offer any sort of attempt to try and get people off of death row. But then there is another system. So, this is when — so, Israeli occupation that applies in the West Bank will then basically condemn Palestinians to death for offenses that Israel decided are against Israeli security, terror offenses.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Sarit, if I could just —

SARIT MICHAELI: But also, inside Israel is a Palestinian —

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Before we conclude — we have 30 seconds, Sarit. How are human rights groups going to challenge this legislation?

SARIT MICHAELI: So, I would just want to add one important thing, which is that this law actually enshrines, it makes formal, a situation where Israelis and Israel are killing Palestinians with impunity in huge numbers. I mean, for the past two years, in our genocide of Gaza, in our vast numbers — the vast numbers of Palestinians who were also killed in the West Bank, these things have happened with impunity. And the new law that will impose the death penalty is simply making this formalized.

However, I think there is also the issue of what this means in terms of Israel’s culture, Israeli society’s dehumanization of Palestinians. I think this is an example, or this is proof, of how low our society has sunk.

AMY GOODMAN: Sarit Michaeli, we have to leave it there.

SARIT MICHAELI: Some Israeli human rights organizations have petitioned the —

AMY GOODMAN: I thank you so much for being with us, international outreach director at the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, speaking to us from Tel Aviv. That does it for our show. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, for another edition of Democracy Now!