Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is The Guardian. Today, mass trials, televised tribunals and the noose. A new era for Israel's justice system. Earlier this month, Israel's far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gavir, celebrated a special birthday. There was music, guests and, naturally, a cake. With a very special birthday message.
So he had his 50th birthday earlier this month. And his cake, which he proudly shared pictures of on social media, was a noose-themed cake.
Chapter 2: What recent laws have been passed regarding the death penalty in Israel?
So there was a big image of a noose. Oh, my God. And around it was the sort of caption or the message in icing, Congratulations, Minister Ben-Gavir. Sometimes dreams come true.
For decades, Israel was a country that had effectively left the death penalty behind. Now, after the passing of two separate laws in two months, all that has changed. From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly. Today in Focus. Israel brings back the death penalty. But only for Palestinians? Emma Graham-Harrison, you're The Guardian's chief Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem.
Welcome to Today on Focus. Today we're here to talk about this new law that has been passed in Israel that will mean that Palestinian prisoners charged with involvement in the October 7th attacks could now face the death sentence. But this is actually the second piece of legislation about the death penalty passed in Israel in recent months.
So can we start by you telling me about the law that was passed by the Knesset in March and how this has laid the groundwork for what we're seeing now?
So the law that was passed in March is frankly horrifying. It's fundamentally racist. It's basically aimed only at Palestinians because it instigates the death penalty for people convicted of deadly terrorism with an intent to deny the existence of the state of Israel. So essentially, it's
almost impossible to imagine a scenario in which, for instance, a Jewish Israeli convicted of terrorism against Palestinians would face the death penalty. And then it has provisions that are extremely disturbing. So in occupied Palestine, people will be tried in military courts. They can be convicted and face the death penalty on the decision of a majority of judges.
There doesn't have to be unanimity. It's a default penalty as a sort of concession to people who were concerned about a mandatory death penalty. There is a provision that it could be commuted to life in prison under special circumstances, but those aren't defined. There's no provision for judges to be able to issue a pardon. And it has to be imposed within 90 days.
So, you know, if you think about how long it can take for miscarriages of justice to work their way through any judicial system, this isn't about Israel's judicial system in particular, false convictions take decades to come to light.
And then even inside Israel, where it would be applied in civilian courts, so there would be different provisions, you still have this racist component that it's aimed primarily at Palestinians. And it's still been really heavily criticised. So basically, as soon as it was passed, we saw a whole range of Israeli human rights groups filing suit in the Supreme Court to have it thrown out.
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Chapter 3: How do the new laws affect Palestinian prisoners specifically?
I myself have interviewed a man who said he had survived rape. He gave a very detailed and credible account of what had happened to him. The Israeli prison service denied that. But that is not an isolated account, which is why, you know, Bet Selem and other organisations say that they are credible. We hear these repeated patterns of behaviour. And, you know, Torture produces false confessions.
That's something that's universally known. So conditions in the prisons are horrific. There's complete impunity for abusing Palestinian prisoners. We know of around 100 prisoners who died in detention. The number's probably higher. So people are being tortured. They're emerging from prison emaciated. They're on starvation rations. The government has been repeatedly told...
by the Israeli Supreme Court that it needs to increase rations to prisoners because they aren't being starved and has not done so. The security minister, Ben-Gavir, has boasted of keeping people on starvation rations.
Chapter 4: What was the content of the law passed in March regarding capital punishment?
So, you know, that's just another layer of concern, really, about these trials that you will be putting people on trial who have been tortured, potentially using confessions extracted under torture.
And what has been the reaction from the public to the news of these tribunals?
Well, you know, that's a good question, Annie, because I think on the one hand, you know, broadly speaking, people are very keen to see justice done. But at the same time, you know, we've seen a long sustained campaign by members of the public, survivors, relatives of people who were killed for an independent commission of inquiry into October 7th. And the government's blocking that.
They're saying they're going to set up their own commission of inquiry, but it won't have the same independence. It won't have the same power to summon witnesses. And I think... You know, in a way, the questions about these tribunals go to the same question.
You know, the government says this is about justice, but critics would say, actually, this is not about real justice, about real accountability, about truly finding out what happened on October 7th, who committed these crimes against humanity. and who directed them and the failings on the Israeli side that left so many thousands of Israelis vulnerable.
In some ways, these trials feel to many people long overdue. It's been so long since these things happen now, over two and a half years. It's not been a question that they've been trying to find the suspects. They've been in captivity all this time. But at the same time,
There is definitely a feeling among many Israelis that this is a government that's putting its own interests before those of victims, survivors and long-term national security, actually, because if you don't understand properly what went wrong, how can you be sure you stop it happening again?
So, right, you've got these two new laws that have been passed recently, one in March that effectively brought in the death penalty in Israel, and this other one in May that set up these tribunals around October the 7th. How are they linked exactly?
Well, you know, I mean, in one sense, you could say that very different. One is looking back at setting up these tribunals under the framework of existing Israeli law. The other is looking forward and setting up a new legal regime, a new set of statutes under which the death penalty can be handed down.
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