Democrats MK, rights orgs petition High Court against death penalty law

Democrats MK Gilad Kariv files a petition to the High Court of Justice alongside the left-wing Zulat Institute and NGO Rabbis for Human Rights, asking it to strike down or temporarily freeze the law passed by the Knesset last week mandating the death penalty for West Bank Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks, warning that executions could theoretically proceed before the court decides on its legality.

Like other petitions against the law, Kariv and the other petitioners argue that the law discriminates between Palestinians and Israeli Jews, that it is unconstitutional as it violates the right to life, human dignity, due process, and equality, and that the Knesset lacks authority to impose such legislation on the Palestinian population of the West Bank, where Israel does not hold sovereignty.

The petition further argues that there is no evidence that such a law will deter terrorism — the stated goal of proponents of the legislation — and warns it may instead fuel more violence, adding that “the state cannot protect the value of life by taking life.”

Kariv, who led opposition to the legislation in the Knesset, says in a statement that “those handing out baklava and popping champagne in the Knesset are not fighting the accursed terrorists — they are becoming like them,” referring to celebrations by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which sponsored the legislation, after the law’s passage.

Kariv adds that the law is an election campaign by “a party that has completely failed in all the governing responsibilities it has undertaken.”

Several other organizations and political parties have either already petitioned the court against the law or intend to, including the opposition Yesh Atid and Hadash-Ta’al parties, and rights organizations The Association for Civil Rights in Israel and The New Israel Fund.