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Israel, the so-called beacon of democracy, with whom the U.S. shares so many values, and, to quote Hillary Clinton, an “unshakeable bond,” just passed an ethnicity-based death penalty law.
On March 30, the Israeli Knesset approved a law that was introduced by the party of National Security Minister Ben-Gvir that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners by hanging. Israeli prisoners are effectively exempt from this new law.
To analyze this “genocidal” new law, we speak with two guests: Haifa-based Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu, and Ofer Cassif, a member of the Israeli Knesset representing Israel’s Communist Party, who lives outside of Tel Aviv.
Useful Idiots: Ofer, you have called Israel’s new death penalty law “genocidal.” Can you elaborate?
Ofer Cassif: The law doesn’t apply to Jews. It applies solely to Palestinians. No need to say much about it. It’s very clear.
Secondly, they are tried by military court, and this law also says that the military court “must accept the death penalty.” It has no other choice. And the law has another section which says that the Chief Commander of the West Bank is not entitled to pardon nor to mitigate the death penalty.
When I say it’s a genocidal law more than a death penalty law, it’s not because it’s going to actually carry out a genocide. It’s because it enables and legitimizes a genocide. That’s the point.
How come? Those who propose the law and the majority of those who voted in favor of the law consistently say that there’s no such thing as Jewish terrorism. If the law deals with terrorists, and there’s no such thing as Jewish terrorists, by definition they are excluded altogether.
But the other side is that all Palestinians are terrorists.
The vast majority of those who proposed this bill and in the public at large argue that there aren’t innocent Palestinians. You remember that after October 7, the common parlance in the Israeli discourse was that ‘no one is innocent in Gaza,’ including the children. According to that, all Palestinians are terrorists. But if all Palestinians are terrorists, and this new law says the terrorists should be killed, what’s the logical conclusion? All Palestinians should be killed.
That’s the reason that I refer to it as a genocidal law.
Useful Idiots: Diana, I heard you in an interview with Jadaliyya where you said that this new death penalty law to some extent “doesn’t matter.” Can you expand on the law and what you mean that?
Diana Buttu: There are two different legal systems that exist from the river to the sea.
If you are an Israeli, no matter where your crime is committed, you’ll be tried under the Israeli civilian system. So what that means is that if you’re an Israeli settler who’s living in an illegal settlement in the West Bank and you kill a Palestinian, you’re going to an Israeli civilian court.
If you’re Palestinian, you’re going to an Israeli military court.
So what’s the difference? Under this new death penalty law, the civilian court can sentence the death penalty if the defendant killed “with the intent to deny the existence of the state of Israel.”
So let’s think about who is going to have intent to deny the existence of the state of Israel: it’s not going to be an Israeli settler because they’re killing in the name of the state of Israel.
Just this year alone, from the start of 2026, Israeli settlers have killed eight Palestinians, and none of them have been tried. Nobody’s even been arrested, much less tried. If you look at the percentages of Israelis who actually get any form of prosecution, it’s three percent. That’s it.
Let’s go to the other side, which is the military court system. Only Palestinians fall under that system. And what will happen under this new law is that it’s going to be a mandatory death sentence. And let’s look at the prosecution rates: 90 to 96 percent. The reason it’s so high is because they use “secret evidence.” They extract confessions through torture. So we now have a system where they’re going to impose the death penalty.
The reason I’ve said that it effectively doesn’t matter is because we’ve seen that Israel’s now killed, at a conservative estimate, 75,000 Palestinians. It’s committed genocide in Gaza. The Israelis openly talk about there being no innocence. They gun people down at random. As I mentioned, there’s very low prosecution rates, so they can already kill with impunity. So they’ve just codified it. Because they can. Because they know they’ve been able to get away with genocide. So why not entrench it in law? Why not? Why do anything but?
Subscribe to Useful Idiots to support our work and see the full interview with Knesset Member Ofer Cassif on whether Israel killed its own people on October 7 with the Hannibal Directive and the rise of Judeo-terrorism.
You’ll also get Katie and Aaron’s weekly news recap, including an analysis of Aaron’s latest appearance on Piers Morgan. It’s the Friday Free-for-All: Rubio Claims Iran Can’t Take Care of Its Own People As Trump Announces Daycare Will No Longer Be Funded By the Government
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