clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

The de facto Israeli death penalty

June 1, 2014 at 10:03 am

Israel is sometimes praised by clueless liberals because it does not carry out the death penalty. This is sometimes even contrasted with many of the surrounding countries that do carry out executions. But the reality is quite different.

In practice, Israel does have a death penalty. But not for domestic murderer cases: for Palestinians and other Arabs. And no judges, courts or juries are necessary.

The Israeli military kills Palestinians, often including children, with near total impunity. And the record of convictions of Palestinian suspects backs this up. The Israeli press confirmed what Palestinians have always known with a stark statistic in 2011: Israeli military courts have a 99.7 percent conviction rate.

The 16-year-old Palestinian Muhammed Mahmoud Odeh Abu al-Thahir, along with 17-year-old Nadim Siam Nuwara were shot in cold blood by the Israeli army at a protest against an Israeli prison in the occupied West Bank on Nakba Day, 15 May.

Video footage shot by CNN shows an Israeli soldier calmly and methodically shooting Nuwara with live ammunition. He died soon after in the hospital.

This is an Israeli death penalty by any other name.

It is brutal, and does not even need the rubber stamp of a military judge in the kangaroo courts that Israel uses to help dominate Palestinians in the West Bank.

Case after case has been documented of “wanted” Palestinian activists and alleged fighters being shot by Israeli soldiers. They are then often deliberately allowed to bleed to death. Palestinian ambulances are purposely blocked from reaching the casualty.

One such case was the killing of PA intelligence officer Ayman Khateb in 2006, something that I happened to witness the immediate aftermath of. The blood was still on the street.

It’s easier for Israel to simply dispose of such suspects rather than bother with them becoming prisoners, and therefore potential prison activists.

Another important strand of deception in trying to portray the Israeli military as some sort of “liberal” bastion of “morality” is the array of PR spokespeople and spin doctors, and the collection of proxy propaganda groups like CAMERA and the ironically-named Honest Reporting.

While still dishonestly trying to claim it was unknown who killed the two Palestinian boys, liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz disclosed this week that the soldier caught on camera was from a “non-combat” unit.

The paper did not specify which one, but it’s possible that he was from the spokesperson’s unit.

Crossover between the Israeli state proper and this vast array of supposedly independent spin groups operating around the world is ably demonstrated by the fact that “Honest Reporting’s” managing editor Simon Plosker is still a reservist soldier in the spokesperson’s unit.

Although he claims to be merely a spin doctor, one wonders what the truth is. When was the last time Plosker and his subordinates held a gun? A weapon such as the rifle that slew Nadim and Muhammed? The question demands an answer.

Another such “non-combat” reservist soldier is Moty Cristal, an army negotiator.

Until this week when he dropped his rather hopeless-looking case, Cristal was at the forefront of the Israeli state’s “lawfare” assault on the Palestine solidarity movement in the UK. He was aiming to force a payout of tens of thousands of pounds from the NHS and from Unison, the public sector union.

I’ve repeatedly asked Cristal about his combat experience and current role, but he has repeatedly ignored my requests for comment.

Israel’s propaganda is starting to become unstuck and is fooling less and less people these days. But that won’t stop them from trying.

Asa Winstanley is an investigative journalist who lives in London.

 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.