12 November 2024
The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC) strongly condemns the recent legislative actions by the occupation’s Knesset, which are exploiting the period of war to advance a series of discriminatory measures aimed at imbedding racial discrimination, promoting Jewish supremacy, and tightening control over Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory. These actions represent blatant violations of International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law and other relevant international legal norms.

On October 28, 2024, the Knesset passed two laws effectively dismantling the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Banning UNRWA from the occupation state’s so-called “sovereign territory” cuts off vital aid and services to over 2.5 million Palestinian refugees, jeopardizing their basic human rights and their right of return. 

Concurrently, the Knesset is pushing forward an amendment to its Counter-Terrorism Law that lowers the threshold for prosecuting individuals for “incitement to terrorism.” This vague and expansive definition disproportionately targets Palestinian citizens of 'Israel’ and Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, infringing on their right to freedom of expression. This amendment is already being used to arrest and indict Palestinians for participating in protests or sharing critical social media posts, effectively silencing dissent.

Additional legislation seeks to grant the Israeli Ministry of Education powers to dismiss Palestinian educators and defund schools accused of “supporting terrorism,” primarily targeting schools in East Jerusalem. Such measures undermine the right to education for thousands of Palestinian children and institutionalize discrimination within the education system. Adding to this, recently passed laws allow minors as young as 12 to be imprisoned for life for alleged terrorism offenses and deny them the right to legal counsel during interrogations, breaching fundamental child protection standards and exemplifying an inherently discriminatory legal system.

One of the proposed laws intends to revoke welfare benefits from parents of Palestinian minors convicted of security offenses, inflicting severe economic hardship on marginalized families and echoing collective punishment practices, which are prohibited under international law. Another proposed bill would grant the Israeli Minister of Interior authority to deport family members of Palestinians merely accused of terrorism, posing a grave threat to the unity and safety of Palestinian families and violating due process rights. This bill also strongly embodies collective punishment by targeting entire families who may have no connection to alleged offenses. Additionally, the term “accused of terrorism” is dangerously ambiguous, enabling Israel to broadly classify even minor acts, such as rock-throwing, as terrorism. This deliberate vagueness grants expansive discretionary power, ensuring the law’s indiscriminate application. Such an approach paves the way for systematic abuse, undermining justice and weaponizing legal mechanisms to perpetuate collective punishment and further oppression of Palestinian families, as it fails to address Jewish settlers' terror against Palestinians.

These legislative measures, both passed and proposed, mark a significant escalation toward institutionalized political persecution and the loss of fundamental rights under the disguise of counterterrorism. They revive discriminate measures that reinforces a two-tiered legal system that privileges Jewish-Israelis while stripping Palestinians of their rights.

JLAC calls upon the international community to take immediate and decisive action to confront these violations of international law and protect the fundamental rights of Palestinians. Silence and inaction in the face of such blatant discrimination only bolsters further abuses. Accountability is not just an option; it is a moral and legal imperative.