Israel builds gallows to execute prisoners

 

Oskar Forsberg

 

Published 22.01

 

Right-wing politician Ben Gvir proudly wears his pin.

Israel is building a facility where it plans to hang Palestinians convicted of terrorism.

The country's Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir shows off the site on social media.

- Terrorists deserve only one thing: death by hanging, he says.

Israel is currently building an execution site. A special section with a gallows in the center will be established at the site. Spectator areas are being built around the gallows where families of crime victims will be able to witness the executions.

Something that the country's Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir states is "common in other countries, including the United States".

The Security Minister presented the facility as a fulfillment of his election promises ahead of the parliamentary elections in October. The newspaper The Telegraph reports.

In a video from the scene, Ben-Gvir says:

– I promised to worsen the conditions for terrorists in prisons. It has been fully implemented. I promised to pass the law on the death penalty for terrorists. It has been done. I promised to build an execution facility. And it has also been implemented.

New death penalty law

The construction began after a law passed by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in March, stipulates the death penalty by hanging for terror-related murders. According to the text, the law only applies to Palestinians because it is applied through military courts that do not try Israeli citizens.

Legal experts and human rights organizations have described this as a legal system with different rules for different groups. The law is also the subject of an ongoing review in Israel’s Supreme Court, where the plaintiffs argue that it violates the rights to life, dignity, equal treatment and due process.

According to the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, more than 9,300 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons.

About 3,200 are being held in administrative detention, which means that military commanders can detain people for renewable six-month periods, citing classified evidence that neither the detainees nor their lawyers are allowed to see.

The announcement of the execution site is the latest in a series of high-profile statements by Ben-Gvir.

In an interview published last weekend, he advocated “targeted eliminations of 30-40 people in Gaza every night.”

“There are people there who don’t deserve to live. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even human,” he said.