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Israel's Knesset (parliament) approved on Monday a law that will prevent the government from releasing Palestinian prisoners who were jailed for committing terrorist attacks against Israelis as part of future diplomatic overture or prisoner swaps.
The law, initiated by Ayelet Shakked from the far-right Bayit Yehudi faction, set a new criminal category of "murder under extraordinarily severe circumstances." The law bestows the courts with the power to decide whether to convict a defendant on a murder case with this extra level of conviction.
Defendants that were found guilty under the new law will never be able to be freed as part of prisoners swap deals and they could not be released until they served at least 40 years in prison. The law has no impact on prisoners who were already convicted.
The law applies to both criminally or nationalistically motivated murders, but an appendix to the law claims its intention is to block "an absurd situation" in which "terrorists, who committed murder as part of their struggle against Israel," are released before the end of their sentence.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement that the law "sends a message to the Palestinian society that praises murderers, saying the policy of releasing murderers that was acceptable until now is over, and whoever will harm citizens of Israel will spend the rest of his or her life behind bars."
The law comes about six months after Israel has suspended the U. S.-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians over the Hamas and Fatah unity agreement. Israel refused to release a third group of Palestinian prisoners as decided upon in July.
In the past, Israel has released Palestinian prisoners, including convicted murderers, in numerous occasions. However, each release ignites harsh public reactions and vocal objection by bereaved families who lost their loved ones in suicide attacks. Enditem
