Israel's far-right coalition government introduced tougher penalties on Monday for people throwing stones at vehicles and roads during demonstrations, drawing criticism for its racial motivations against Palestinians in the occupied territories. Israeli Knesset members voted 69-17 in favor of legislation that allows for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison if a rock is thrown at a vehicle with the intent of causing harm and 10 years in prison if such intention is not proven.
The law applies to East Jerusalem but not the occupied West Bank. "Tolerance toward terrorists ends today. A stone-thrower is a terrorist, and only a fitting punishment can serve as a deterrent and just punishment," Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said according to Reuters.
The new legislation was previously proposed by Tzipi Livni, the justice minister in Israel's previous coalition government. Shaked, a well-known far-right Israeli politician previously made controversial remarks about Palestinians, such as labeling all of them terrorists and wishing death to all Palestinian mothers, and in early June called on Israelis to boycott anyone that boycotts Israel on June 3.
The Israeli government also proposed new legislation in June that would limit the work of Israeli NGOs, including the funding they receive from international organizations and the governments of other countries. Justice Minister Shaked of the Jewish Home party has declared her stance against NGOs that take foreign money and then criticize Israel or declare boycotts against the state of Israel for its treatment of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories.
Israel's decision to introduce tougher laws against stone-throwers has been criticized by human rights groups. The new law is "racist," and it is not an appropriate punishment for a stone-thrower, Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoner Club, an organization that advocates on behalf of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, has commented. "This law is hateful and contradicts the most basic rule that the punishment fit the offence," Fares said.
The international human rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), also issued a statement on Monday, criticizing Israel's treatment of Palestinian children as young as 11 years old, who face arrest by Israeli forces, in a report entitled "Israel: Security Forces Abuse Palestinian Children."
"Israeli security forces have used unnecessary force to arrest or detain Palestinian children as young as 11. Security forces have choked children, thrown stun grenades at them, beaten them while in custody, threatened and interrogated them without the presence of parents or lawyers and failed to let their parents know their whereabouts," the HRW said. "Israeli forces' mistreatment of Palestinian children is at odds with its claim to respect children's rights," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
"As Israel's largest military donor, the U.S. should press hard for an end to these abusive practices and for reforms," she added.
Palestine's stone-throwing youth has been a symbol of resistance and the Palestinian struggle against Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian territories since the uprisings in the 1980s, beginning with the first Intifada, which began in early December 1987 and lasted until mid-September 1993.
Palestinian youth demonstrate against Israeli repression against Palestinian civilians, including occupation through forced migration and re-locations, in addition to extrajudicial killings, detentions, and military attacks that kill many civilians each year.
The Israeli government has not said a word on the Israeli presence in the occupied territories. Moreover, despite accusations by Palestinians and several rights groups over the Israeli raids on Palestinian cities, Tel Aviv has not taken any step to contribute to peace in the conflict-torn country.
In the summer of 2014, Israel launched an offensive military attack against the Gaza Strip, which killed, according to official U.N. figures, 2,104 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, 495 of whom were children and 253 were women. During the Israeli attacks on Gaza, 69 Israelis, including four civilians, were also killed. Israeli Defense Forces launched "Operation Protective Edge" on July 8, 2014, and the war continued for 50 days, during which 108,000 people had their homes destroyed or severely damaged as a result of thousands of artillery and tank shells fired into mostly residential areas of Gaza.
Israel's far-right coalition government has introduced tougher penalties on Monday for people throwing stones at vehicles and roads during demonstrations, which has drawn criticism for its racial motivations against Palestinians on the occupied territories.
Israeli Knesset members voted 69-17 in favor of the legislation that will allow for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, if the rock is thrown at a vehicle with the intent of causing bodily harm and 10 years in prison if such intention is proven. The law applies to East Jerusalem but not the occupied West Bank.
"Tolerance toward terrorists ends today. A stone-thrower is a terrorist and only a fitting punishment can serve as a deterrent and just punishment," Israel's Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said according to Reuters.
The new legislation was proposed previously by Tzipi Livni, the Justice Minister of Israel's previous coalition government.
Shaked, a well-known far-right Israeli politician previously made controversial remarks about Palestinians, such as labeling all of them as terrorists and wishing death to all Palestinian mothers, and in early June called on Israelis to boycott anyone that boycotts Israel on June 3.
Israeli government has also proposed a new legislation in June that would limit the work of Israeli NGO's, including the funding they receive from international organizations and the governments of other countries. Israel's Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of the Jewish Home party has declared her stance against the NGOs that take foreign money and then criticize Israel or declare boycotts against the state of Israel for its treatment of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories.
Israel's decision to introduce tougher laws against the stone-throwers has been criticized by human rights groups. The new law is 'racist' and it is not an appropriate punishment for a stone-thrower, Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoner Club, an organization that advocates on behalf of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, has commented.
"This law is hateful and contradicts the most basic rule that the punishment fit the offence," Fares said.
The international human rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has also issued a statement on Monday, criticizing Israel's treatment of Palestinian children as young as 11 years old, who face arrests by the Israeli forces in the report titled "Israel: Security Forces Abuse Palestinian Children".
"Israeli security forces have used unnecessary force to arrest or detain Palestinian children as young as 11. Security forces have choked children, thrown stun grenades at them, beaten them in custody, threatened and interrogated them without the presence of parents or lawyers, and failed to let their parents know their whereabouts," HRW said.
"Israeli forces' mistreatment of Palestinian children is at odds with its claim to respect children's rights," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
"As Israel's largest military donor, the U.S. should press hard for an end to these abusive practices and for reforms," she added.
Palestine's stone-throwing youth has been a symbol of resistance and the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian territories, since the uprisings in 1980's, beginning with the first Intifada, which began in early December 1987 to mid-September 1993.
The Palestinian youth demonstrates against the Israeli repression against the Palestinian civilians, including occupation through forced migration and re-locations, in addition to extrajudicial killings, detentions, and military attacks which kill many civilians each year.
In the summer of 2014, Israel launched an offensive military attack against the Gaza Strip, which killed, according to official United Nations figures, 2,104 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, 495 of whom were children and 253 were women.
During the Israeli war in Gaza, 69 Israelis- including four civilians, were also killed. Israeli Defense Forces launched the "Operation Protective Edge" on July 8, 2014 and the war continued for 50 days, during which 108,000 people had their homes destroyed or severely damaged as a result of thousands of artillery and tank shells fired into mostly residential areas of Gaza.
