Khaberni - On Monday, the "Security" Committee in the Israeli Knesset discusses the "Execution of Prisoners Law" project, in preparation for voting on it next Wednesday.
A parliamentary committee of the Knesset approved on Sunday, the twenty-ninth of September last year, the bill "Execution of Palestinian Prisoners," in preparation for voting on it at the first reading.
The law is part of the agreements signed to form a governmental coalition headed by the leader of the "Likud" party, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the leader of the "Jewish Power," Itamar Ben Gvir, at the end of 2022.
The Execution of Prisoners Law is not new; it has been proposed repeatedly over the past years, the last of which was in 2022 when the extremist minister Ben Gvir reintroduced it with a series of amendments until it was preliminarily approved by the Knesset in March 2023.
The bill stipulates the imposition of the death penalty on anyone who intentionally or due to indifference causes the death of an Israeli citizen motivated by racism or hatred and to harm Israel.
Passing the law in the first reading will allow it to be further advanced in the upcoming Knesset, even if its legislation is not completed during the current session.
The legislation process in Israel goes through several stages, starting with drafting a bill by a Knesset member or a governmental committee, as explained on the Knesset's website.
In a specially held meeting, the Knesset's presidency approves the legislative proposals that reach it and introduces them the same day on the general assembly’s table for preliminary reading, where they are discussed and decided upon whether they will be approved or not, and then forwarded to a parliamentary committee to prepare them for the first reading.
If the proposed laws are submitted by the government and not by a member of the Knesset, as is the case with the execution law, or by Knesset committees, they are not subject to preliminary deliberations and start from the first reading stage. The proposed laws for the first reading are published in an official bulletin, followed by voting to drop or deliberate them.
If the proposal passes in the first reading, it is forwarded to one of the specialized committees in the Knesset to prepare it for the second and third readings. After the committee completes its deliberations, the laws are subject to additional deliberations in the general assembly, followed by a vote in the second and third readings.
After the proposal is approved in all three readings, it becomes part of the law book of the State of Israel, is published in "the records" after being formally drafted, and becomes effective.
