Israel's Netanyahu approves controversial death penatly facilitaing bill

The controversial bill, which already passed its preliminary vote in Israel’s parliament (Knesset) in January, has now been approved by Netanyahu to be moved forward, Israeli media reported Monday.

If passed into law, the legislation will empower both civilian and military courts to issue death penalty for those convicted of “terrorist activity” with only simple majority of judges.

Under current law, military courts can only hand out death sentence if a panel of three judges unanimously agrees to issue the punishment.

Palestinian politicians and human rights activists have already denounced the move and expressed concern that it will give Israel legal cover to target Palestinians.

They formerly said that although the bill does not specify a special group, it is “intended mainly for the Palestinian people.”

The bill was introduced by minister of military affairs Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party late in 2017. Lieberman said at the time that the bill would be a powerful deterrent to the Palestinians.

“We must not allow terrorists to know that after a murder they have committed, they will sit in prison, enjoy the conditions and may be released in the future," he said back then, referring to the Palestinians the regime finds guilty of murder.

More than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 Israeli jails, dozens of whom are serving multiple life sentences.

Over 500 detainees are under the so-called administrative detention, which is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months, extendable an infinite number of times.

The report comes as Palestinian territories have witnessed new tensions ever since the US on December 6, 2017 announced it was recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” and said the US would move its embassy to the city.

Over 180 Palestinians have been killed at the hands of Israeli forces since then.

The regime has also stepped up its campaign of raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank amid the tensions.