Editorial: Celebrating death with champagne

What we witnessed in the Israeli parliament last week was nothing short of grotesque.  Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right security minister, champagne bottle in hand, a noose-shaped pin fixed proudly to his lapel, held his fist up and laughed as he celebrated the prospect of death. This was days after he filmed himself in front of gallows at a Jerusalem museum.

Ben-Gvir, who once pulled a gun on Palestinian residents, was celebrating the approval of a law that paves the way for the state to execute those it deems its enemies – basically Palestinians.

Backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who himself faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes, the law introduces a default death sentence for individuals convicted by Israeli military courts of killing Israelis in acts defined as “terrorism”. These courts operate in the occupied West Bank and try Palestinians almost exclusively.

The law provisions are unprecedented. Judges will no longer need to reach unanimous decisions to impose death sentences. Prosecutors are not required to seek capital punishment for it to be applied. And there is no possibility of pardon. Executions must be carried out within 90 days.

In a system already criticised for relying on evidence obtained through coercion, torture and abuse, as documented by Amnesty International, Israel’s new measures dismantle even the most basic safeguards against irreversible injustice.

The death penalty is, in itself, morally repugnant. Its reintroduction under such conditions is a disgrace for a country that accuses some Arab states of being medieval and undemocratic. The new law codifies a hierarchy of lives, one in which the value of justice is contingent upon identity.

This is why the new law, if it manages to overcome legal hurdles, has been described by many as akin to apartheid.

Sadly, this institutionalised cruelty against the Palestinians is the latest in a series of actions taken by a regime which feels the power to do as it pleases as long as Donald Trump is in power.

Israel continues to brand critics as ‘anti-Semitic’. This is nonsense – and Times of Malta will remain consistent in criticising Netanyahu’s brutal tactics. We unequivocally condemned the terrorist October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas. The deliberate targeting of civilians is indefensible, regardless of context. But Israel’s response – marked by the devastation of Gaza and the killing of tens of thousands – has crossed into what many credible observers now describe as genocidal conduct.

It is also impossible to ignore the political calculations at play. Netanyahu’s government has every incentive to prolong conflict and harden policies – it’s no secret that war deflects attention from domestic challenges and delays political reckoning. And the scars will live on for generations – the victims are not only Palestinians but also ordinary Israelis, who are now condemned to live in a perpetual cycle of fear and retaliation.

The international community must move beyond expressions of concern and adopt concrete measures. If Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rightly triggered sweeping sanctions and a reassessment of diplomatic relations, then similar standards must apply here. And this should transcend the Eurovision song contest!

To treat Israel as a normal partner while it enacts laws that so blatantly violate fundamental principles of justice is to abandon those principles altogether.

Israel’s new death penalty law is a stark warning of how far a state can drift when extremism is allowed to shape governance unchecked. If the world fails to respond decisively, it will not only be Palestinians who pay the price, but the very notion of international law itself.