Israel just amended its death penalty law to include the occupied West Bank, which appears to be an obvious move toward advancing its goal of ethnically cleansing Palestinians. The mandate builds on legislation that was passed in March by the Knesset, under which a military order makes execution the default punishment for Palestinians convicted in military courts of killing Israelis. The law states: “Where a court has imposed a death sentence, it shall issue an order specifying that the sentence shall be executed by hanging,” and “shall be executed within 90 days of the date it [the sentence] becomes final.” The law applies exclusively to Palestinians tried under Israel’s military court system. Jewish Israelis are not prosecuted under the same courts, nor are they subject to the same mandatory punishment structure. Israel is already holding thousands of Palestinians in detention, many of whom are held without fair trials, subjected to torture, and now face the death penalty. These are individuals who may be innocent, with children and grieving families. Related to this, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was recently informed that the ICC had issued a confidential arrest warrant for him. The reason for the warrant was not stated, but seeing how the ICC slogan is, “Trying individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression,” we can make an educated guess on that one. He seems to think he’s untouchable and above international law, as he responded by saying the warrants are “a declaration ⁠of war,” and “in the face of a declaration of war, we will fight back with a vengeance.” Smotrich proceeded to announce that he “will sign an order to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar,” a Palestinian village in the West Bank. Some are interpreting this as a threat to ethnically cleanse the area. Either way, with the death penalty law now in effect in the region, more Palestinians are being placed in grave danger. It’s clear Israel is operating without restraint or consequences and is positioning itself as a state with the authority to decide who lives and who dies, with no regard for basic human rights. If another country committed acts of genocide and introduced laws such as these, do you think the U.S. would openly support and fund them, too? How is this even allowed to happen? The post Israel Expands Death Penalty appeared first on Redacted.