Qatar, along with other Arab and Muslim countries, condemns Israel’s death penalty law as discriminatory, warning it entrenches apartheid and risks escalating tensions.
The foreign ministers of Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt strongly condemned the enactment by the Israeli occupying authorities of a law ratified by the Knesset that permits the imposition of the death penalty in the occupied West Bank and its actual application against Palestinians.
In a joint statement on Thursday, ministers warned of the ongoing “Israeli actions that entrench an apartheid system and adopt exclusionary rhetoric that denies the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and their existence in the occupied Palestinian territory”.
This comes after Israel’s Knesset passed on Monday a death penalty law which applied exclusively to Palestinians convicted of alleged “terror” attacks, with lawmakers celebrating inside parliament as the vote was confirmed.
The draconian law, which does not apply to Jewish Israelis convicted of the same crimes, sets death by hanging as the default sentence in military courts where Palestinians face a 96 percent conviction rate, with no right to pardon and a 90-day window to carry out executions.
The Arab and Muslim ministers affirmed that this legislation constituted a dangerous escalation, particularly in “light of its discriminatory application against Palestinian prisoners, stressing that such measures will only fuel tensions and undermine regional stability”.
The ministers also expressed concern about the conditions of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails, warning of “increasing risks amid credible reports of ongoing violations, including torture, cruel and inhuman degrading treatment, starvation, and deprivation of their basic rights”, emphasising that these practices reflect a broader pattern of violations against the Palestinian people.
The ministers called for intensified international efforts to preserve stability and prevent further deterioration.
Rights groups have also criticised the bill, with the leading UK-based Amnesty International saying the legislation would make the death penalty “another discriminatory tool in Israel’s system of apartheid”.
“It speaks volumes to the extent of Israel’s dehumanisation of Palestinians that this law has passed in the same month in which the Israeli military attorney general dropped all charges against Israeli soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee – a decision celebrated by the Prime Minister and several ministers,” said the Amnesty International statement.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called the law discriminatory as it would primarily, if not exclusively, be applied to Palestinians.
“Israeli citizens and residents are explicitly excluded from this provision: military jurisdiction applies exclusively to Palestinians, while Israeli settlers are tried in civilian courts,” said the statement by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
