Report: Israeli doctors refuse role in death penalty bill for Palestinian prisoners

The Israel Medical Association, (IMA) Ethics Board says it bans all doctors from actively or passively taking part in the Israeli bill for the execution of Palestinian prisoners by lethal injection, involving doctors in the process, Haaretz reported.

According to far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party, which promoted the bill, the executions would be carried out on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis, including those who planned or were involved in alleged attacks. According to the bill, the sentencing will be made by a single judge and will not be subject to appeal.

IMA Ethics Board chairman Dr Yosef Walfisch told Haartez that he sent a letter to National Security Committee chairman a letter on 10 November, clarifying the position of the ethics board.

"Israeli doctors will not become executioners in the service of the state, regardless of their political position," Walfisch told the newspaper.

"Even the most right-wing doctors realise this, as well as doctors who wish for me to object to any death penalty in Israel," he said, adding that Ben-Gvir will find it hard to recruit doctors willing to participate in the injection process.