Israeli ambassador in Bern defends extension of death penalty

Israel's ambassador in Bern defends extension of the death penalty Keystone-SDA

Israel's ambassador in Bern, Tibor Schlosser, has defended the extension of the death penalty as a sovereign decision by Israel.

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“I understand Switzerland’s view that capital punishment violates human dignity,” he told Tamedia.

But in Israel, the focus is also on the dignity of the victims of terror, their families and on preventing further terrorist attacks, Schlosser said in the interview published on Tuesday.

“If a terrorist receives a life sentence, that is no deterrent,” he said. The detainees know that they will be released in the next hostage exchange. “In this way, we create an incentive to commit even more attacks,” he said.

The Israeli parliament approved the law to extend the death penalty last week by a narrow majority. “If a majority wants such a law, that is our sovereign decision,” said Schlosser. What’s more, Israel is not the only democratic state that has the death penalty, he said.

“Now we have this law, and with it comes the question of how the law is applied,” he said. Judges would decide when to impose the death penalty. The convicts have the right to take legal action, said the ambassador.

+ How Switzerland is trying to kill the death penalty

The law stipulates that the death penalty or life imprisonment can be imposed for terrorism-motivated murder with the aim of destroying the state of Israel. In Israeli military courts in the Palestinian territories, the death penalty is even mandatory in such cases and must be carried out by hanging by a prison guard within 90 days of conviction.

Switzerland rejects the death penalty

The Swiss foreign ministry intervened with Schlosser. The head of the ministry’s Peace and Human Rights Division, Tim Enderlin, wants to explain Switzerland’s position to him personally at a meeting, according to a statement from the foreign ministry. The SonntagsBlick newspaper first reported on the planned meeting.

“Switzerland rejects the death penalty everywhere and under all circumstances, as it is incompatible with the right to life and human dignity,” emphasised the foreign ministry on Sunday at the request of the Swiss news Agency Keystone-SDA.

Critics see the law as racist because it de facto only affects Palestinians. The move by the party of far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is also supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A lawsuit by the Israeli Civil Rights Association is pending before the country’s highest court.

Israel abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954 and only retained it in exceptional cases, for example against Nazi criminals or for treason in times of war. The last execution to date was that of Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

Adapted from German by AI/ts

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