Yesterday, 30th March, Apartheid Israel passed a new law to mandate the death penalty for Palestinians, and only Palestinians, ‘convicted’ of lethal ‘terrorism’. The death penalty is an immoral and abhorrent form of punishment, but has an added grotesque layer in the context of Israel’s genocide and the illegal occupation of Palestine.
Palestinians already have zero access to fair trials or justice in Israel’s apartheid military courts, which have a 99.7% conviction rate. UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese ’s latest report is clear that Israel’s systematic use of torture and deliberate neglect of prisoners constitutes an integral part of the ongoing genocide.
This racist, murderous, law is another weapon for Israel to wield in its brutal system of apartheid over Palestinians. We are asking our supporters to please take 2 minutes to send an email to the Irish government today to demand concrete action, and not just more endless words of condemnation. EMAIL THE GOVERNMENT BELOW If you use an email client or app like Outlook or Gmail for Android then simply – CLICK HERE TO EMAIL THE GOVERNMENT (As always, please consider changing the subject line and/or email text to avoid spam filters . GDPR Note: a copy will be sent to us to track how many go in) If you use a browser-based email client like Gmail or Hotmail, here is a model email below that you can copy and paste (and please consider changing the subject line and/or email text to avoid spam filters) – and email the FAI directly at: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie, simon.harris@oireachtas.ie, helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie, palestinepledges@gmail.com (this last email address sends a copy to us so we can track how many are sent) Note: To avoid formatting issues, after you copy the text, choose to ‘ paste as plain text ‘ (Chrome/Edge) or ‘ paste without formatting ‘ (Firefox/Opera) by right clicking and choosing the relevant option from the menu. Subject: Sanction Israel Over Racist Death Penalty
An Taoiseach, An Tánaiste, and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, I’m writing with disgust concerning the horrendous law, passed by the Israeli Knesset on 30 th March, which will introduce a system of death penalty by hanging exclusively for Palestinians. This new law is brutal, blatantly racist, a clear example of apartheid, and another flagrant violation of international law.
I am fully aware that the Irish government has issued a statement condemning this law. But statements are not enough. It is long past time for the Irish government to impose comprehensive sanctions on Israel, including, but not limited to, passing the Occupied Territories Bill in full, passing the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill, ending the export of ‘Dual Use’ items to Israel, and enacting the Arms Embargo Bill, including by ending the use of Irish airports and airspace by the US military and others transiting arms, ammunition, tech and other items with military applications to aid Israel’s ongoing genocide and illegal occupation. At the EU level there needs now to be a renewed push to end all trade with Israel’s illegal settlements, and the European Council needs to move to terminate the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
The death penalty is an immoral and abhorrent form of punishment, but it has an added layer in the context of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory which has been confirmed as illegal in a landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2024. Israel’s occupation is upheld by a system of military courts which only apply to Palestinians in the West Bank, whereas Israelis living in illegal settlements are subject to Israel’s civil law. These military courts have a conviction rate of 99.7% because Palestinians have no access to fair trials within them, an issue that has been raised for decades by international human rights experts.
Adding the death penalty to a context where fundamental rights to a fair trial are not in place is a legal and moral catastrophe. Furthermore, the new law allows for the death penalty to be applied to Palestinian citizens of Israel as well, exposing the fundamentally racist logic and operations of Israel’s apartheid system against all Palestinians.
It has now been over 18 months since the ICJ declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory to be illegal, and where it called on all states to take immediate measures to end it. It is inexcusable that the Irish government has still not responded to this landmark ruling from the ICJ. During that time, the situation for Palestinians has drastically worsened, and this latest law introducing the death penalty is yet another example of Israel further entrenching its apartheid regime while facing no real consequences from the international community, including Ireland.
Now is the time for the Irish government to finally fulfil its legal obligations to stop aiding or assisting Israel’s unlawful activities through its trade, diplomatic relations, and military cooperation. To do this, Ireland must implement meaningful and wide-ranging sanctions on Israel.
Yours sincerely, The post Israel’s Racist Death Penalty – Demand SANCTIONS NOW! appeared first on Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign .