Israeli execution law will apply only to Palestinians, not Israelis

22/05/2016 National News, Politics 2,539 Views

PNN/ Jerusalem/

Israel is set to legalize a military measure that will allow the execution of Palestinians only, while Israelis will not be affected, as requested by the Likud party of prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

The newly appointed minister of army and leader of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, Avigdor Liberman  is the one who suggested the bill that had already been presented last year. Back then, it did not pass the first reading, with 94 members voting against and only six voting for it.

Netanyahu’s appointment of far-right winger, Liberman, had faced a lot of opposition last week, as some described it as “fascist signs.” It also lead to the resignation of ex-minister of Army, Moshe Ya’alon, who said that Israel is becoming more extremist everyday.

Lieberman made capital punishment a key demand in negotiations this week for his party to shore up Netanyahu’s coalition.
The proposal has drawn fierce opposition from the centre-left. “There’s nothing like it in the world,” Yehuda Weinstein, who stepped down as attorney-general in January, said. “There are no countries that added the death penalty to the book of law, only ones that took it off.”

Military prosecutors already have the authority to request capital punishment in certain cases. They have not done so in decades, however, partly because a d eath sentence has to be approved unanimously by a panel of three judges. Lieberman wants to lower the requirement to a simple majority.

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