Israel draft law: 4-year prison term for stone-throwing

A group of Palestinians responds to the intervention of Israeli forces by throwing stones during a demonstration against the Jewish settlement in Kafr Qaddum village of Qalqiya, West Bank on May 06, 2022 [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]

Likud MK Keti Shitrit has drafted a draft law to double the punishment for those throwing stones or incendiaries.

Israel Hayom newspaper reported that the draft law will be presented on Sunday to the Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs. The bill provides for doubling the punishment for stone-throwers and incendiary-throwers, to reach a minimum sentence of 4 years. Currently, the sentence for those throwing stones at settlers’ vehicles is two years.

Israeli Knesset member Keti Shitrit
[Ckbsea/Wikicommons]

The newspaper said that the draft law is an additional test for the government coalition, especially for Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, who previously presented a similar draft in 2015, so it will be difficult for her to oppose the draft law.

Justifications for amending the law were that deterrent measures are needed in order to curb the phenomenon.

According to data from Israeli ambulances, 227 stone-throwing incidents were recorded in the West Bank during the month of May, in addition to 59 Molotov cocktails, while more than 1,000 stone-throwing attacks were recorded during March and April, and 209 incendiary devices were thrown.

The army’s data showed that 5,500 attacks of throwing stones and incendiaries took place in 2021, compared to 4,000 in 2020.

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