Adalah Demands Criminal Investigation into Minister Naftali Bennett for Incitement to Violence

Adalah: “His offense is punishable by five years’ imprisonment under the Criminal Law”

In a letter to the Attorney General, Adalah has demanded a criminal investigation into Naftali Bennett, Israel’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor and leader of the right-wing Jewish Home Party, for incitement to violence. Adalah’s intervention followed a report published in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot on 29 July 2013, which quoted statements made by Bennett at a cabinet meeting to discuss the possible release of Palestinian prisoners as part of the peace talks being brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The news article cited a conversation between Bennett and National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror, during which Bennett stated that, “If you catch a terrorist, then you just have to kill him.” Amidror reportedly replied that what Bennett was espousing was illegal, but Bennett disagreed, adding that, “I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life – there’s no problem with that.”

Dangerous incitement

In the letter, Adalah Attorney Nadeem Shehadeh emphasized that the first of Bennett’s statements advocated the execution of Palestinian prisoners instead of sending them to trial, and the second incitement to violence against Arabs simply for being Arabs.

Attorney Shehadeh argued that Bennett’s statements, as quoted in the press, are a criminal offense under Article 144D2(a) of the Israeli Penal Code, which stipulates a punishment of five years’ imprisonment for anyone who “publishes a call to commit an act of violence or terror, or praise, words of approval, encouragement, support or identification with an act of violence or terror”. Adalah stressed the grave nature of Bennett’s statements, which both legitimize and encourage violence, particularly in light of the plethora of violent acts committed against Palestinians in recent years. These include racially-motivated assaults and ‘price tag’ attacks carried out by groups of right-wing Jewish settlers and other Israelis against Palestinian residents of the OPT and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Naftali Bennet, Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor and leader of the right-wing HaBayet HaYehudi ("Jewish Home") party (Photo from Wikimedia)