Eight Muslim-majority countries – Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – have "strongly condemned" Israel's one-sided bill to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks. According to a joint statement released by Islamabad on Thursday, the law reflects "increasingly discriminatory, escalating Israeli practices that entrench a system of apartheid."
Israel's parliament, the Knesset, passed the controversial bill on Monday; it is a one-sided law that will not impose the same penalty on Jewish Israelis convicted of killings. Its passage marks a major victory for Israel's far right, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir having pushed for its enactment as a key condition of his Otzma Yehudit party's coalition agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The eight countries also expressed "deep concern" over the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention, warning of mounting risks amid reports of "ongoing abuses, including torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, starvation, and the denial of basic rights." The statement read that these practices reflect a "broader pattern of violations against the Palestinian people." The nations cautioned against measures by Israel that risk further inflaming tensions on the ground.
The law has also been criticized by the United Nations and the European Union; however, Israel's ally, the United States regime, came out in support of its "sovereign right to determine its own laws." Israel has applied the death penalty twice since its founding. It has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there by Israeli forces and settlers against Palestinians has soared since Israel's genocidal war on Gaza began in 2023.
Analysts have said that under international law, Israel's parliament should not be legislating in the West Bank, which is not sovereign Israeli territory, despite the efforts of Netanyahu's far-right coalition to annex the territory to Israel.
Source: www.aljazeera.com