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Israel/Zionism See other Israel/Zionism Articles Title: Recently Enacted or Proposed Racist Israeli Laws Recently Enacted or Proposed Racist Israeli Laws by Stephen Lendman Israeli governance is militantly racist, discriminatory, anti-democratic and vicious - in flagrant violation of international law. State terror against Palestinians rages. Since escalating last October, five new racist laws were enacted, five others pending, likely to become law. The Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel divides them into two categories: • legislation relating to escalated state terror launched last October 1; and
• measures targeting human rights groups and BDS supporters.
Legislation related to state-sponsored violence includes: 1. Imposing mandatory prison sentences on Palestinians convicted of alleged stone-throwing, aimed at youths and children. Guilt by accusation is longstanding Israeli policy. Innocence is no defense. Children during their vital formative years can be imprisoned for years. A related law mandates 10 years imprisonment - “without requiring proof of intent to cause harm,” Adalah explained. Proof of intent, true or false, carries a maximum 20-year sentence. 2. Child allowances are now denied parents of Palestinian children convicted of so-called security offenses - virtually anything authorities so designated. Palestinian self-defense against Israeli viciousness is considered terrorism. Israel wants parents punished for alleged crimes their children didn’t commit as an intimidating measure. 3. Parents are now fined when their children are convicted of stone-throwing, true or false. “The law violates the most basic principles of criminal law,” Adalah explained. Criminal responsibility and punishment applies solely to alleged offenders. “Punishing the parents violates the prohibition on collective punishment, since there can be no ‘vicarious liability’ on parents for the acts of their child,” Adalah stressed. 4. Israeli security forces may now stop and frisk Palestinians without just cause - with no reasonable suspicion of a concealed weapon or intent to commit criminal activity. 5. A new measure authorizes detaining Palestinian security suspects up to 96 hours before appearing before a judge - up to 35 days unindicted. Security suspects can be denied legal counsel up to 21 days. Isolated detention gives Shin Bet interrogators considerable time to pressure, intimidate and torture Palestinian suspects to confess to crimes they didn’t commit. 6. Pending legislation lets a 90-Knesset member majority oust another MK on the following dubious grounds: • refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish, democratic state;
• incitement;
• support for any Israeli-designated terrorist group - targeting individuals or organizations supporting Palestinian liberation.
The measure aims at creating an Arab-free Knesset, Jews only allowed to serve. 7. A proposed counterterrorism bill loosely defines terrorism and alleged terrorist groups. Draconian investigatory practices are authorized for anyone suspected of involvement in security offenses - permitting virtually unlimited use of secret evidence, unavailable to defense lawyers in military court hearings. The bill expands police state powers to suppress legitimate protests. It facilities using torture and other forms of abuse during interrogations. 8. A proposed measure expands the definition of “incitement to terrorism,” a catchall category, giving Israeli authorities broad latitude to freely target activists for Palestinian rights. Legislation targeting human rights groups and BDS supporters includes: 9. A separate proposed NGO “funding transparency” bill targets human rights groups, requiring any receiving 50% or more of their funding from foreign sources to reveal their financial backers. The measure aims to “mark out, harass and incite against human rights organizations that express views critical of (regime) policies,” Adalah explained - especially policies discriminating against or otherwise harming Palestinians. 10. New anti-boycott legislation targets BDS activism. It “ban(s) persons, non-citizens and residents, who call for a boycott of Israel, and persons who represent an entity that promotes boycott of Israel, from entry into Israel and ‘regions under its control,’ namely” Occupied Palestine, Adalah explained. Numerous Israeli racist laws target Palestinians harshly, enforcing brutal militarized occupation. New ones are regularly introduced. US-led Western nations ignore flagrant Israeli violations of international laws, supporting its worst high crimes. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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