'No such thing as Jewish terrorist' says Israeli MP sponsoring bill to execute Palestinians

A far-right Israeli lawmaker who sponsored a bill imposing a death penalty for "terrorists", has said that it will only apply to "those who harm the State of Israel" and will exclude Jews.

When asked whether the law would apply to Jewish attackers, MK Limor Son Har-Melech said that "there's no such thing as a Jewish terrorist".

On Monday, an Israeli panel approved the bill which introduces the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, paving the way for its first reading in parliament.

The proposal, tabled by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's far-right Jewish Power party, would allow Israeli courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis on "nationalistic grounds".

The legislation does not apply to Israelis who kill Palestinians under similar circumstances.

Defending the bill, Har-Melech insisted that it is “very clear and unequivocal".

"There’s a simple truth: a dead terrorist is a terrorist who won’t return to the cycle of terror," she added.

The Knesset member further accused ex-Israeli army legal chief Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who is currently under investigation for leaking footage apparently showing Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian detainee, of "lying and deceiving” the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Far-right Israeli MK Limor Son Har-Melech referred to an Israeli convicted of killing three members of a Palestinian family in a 2015, as a "truly holy friend".

She criticised his imprisonment, labelling it a "crime" during a fundraising event aimed at calling for his release pic.twitter.com/ABYVWAIQn9

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) September 20, 2023

“She wanted to show the world and the public that our soldiers are rapists and immoral - and that’s what she did."

Despite five soldiers facing indictments for "severe abuse" and an ongoing trial into the attack, Har-Melech insisted that Tomer-Yerushalmi "framed the soldiers of Unit 100. The footage shows none of the violence she accused them of".

Har-Melech previously praised an Israeli convicted of murdering three members of a Palestinian family in 2015 as a "truly holy man", and called for his release.