RT Article
T1 The shadow of the death penalty in Israel: constructing enemies, citizens, and victims
JF The Elgar companion to capital punishment and society
SP 384
OP 400
A1 Ben-Natan, Amadar
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1936252864
AB Israeli discourse over the death penalty is highly political, connecting the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel abolished the death penalty for criminal murder but retained it for political offenses reflecting “enemy penology”: treason, terrorism, and genocide. In practice, Israel executed only the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann, refraining from executions even for the bloodiest terrorist attacks. Military courts, used to prosecute Palestinians, handed down death sentences that have all been revoked, resulting in de facto abolition. By historically analyzing the law, practice, and judicial discourse in military and civilian capital cases, this chapter makes three arguments. First, enemies are constructed on a scale of multiple categories, such as Nazis, traitors, and terrorists. Second, de facto abolition maintains the shadow of the death penalty over enemy populations. This shadow laid heavier on Palestinian citizens of Israel, constructed as “citizen-enemies,” carrying the double brunt of terrorism and treason. The courts created an inverted hierarchy that enhanced punishments of citizens. Third, enemy penology functions on a symbolic level that contrasts evil enemies with an ahistoric self-image of victimhood.
NO Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 398-400
SN 9781803929149
K1 death penalty
K1 De facto abolition
K1 Enemy penology
K1 Citizenship
K1 Victimhood
K1 military justice
DO 10.4337/9781803929156.00037