Israel wants to jail Palestinian stone-throwers for 10 years

An Israeli ministerial legal committee approved Sunday a bill that could see protesters who throw stones at moving vehicles jailed for up to 10 years.

Justice minister Ayelet Shaked, of the far-right, extremist Jewish Home party, presented the bill, and is also the head of the ministerial committee for legislation that approved it.

Shaked, notorious for advocting genocide against the Palestinian,  argued that stone-throwers were currently receiving “very soft punishments compared to their crimes”, since intent was difficult to prove.

The bill, which faces a series of parliament readings before coming into effect, would amend an existing law that allows stone-throwers to be jailed for 20 years, but only if it can be proven that they intend to inflict harm.

The new version would allow for 10 years imprisonment for “throwing stones or other objects at travelling vehicles in a manner that could endanger the passenger's safety” or harm the vehicle, the bill read.

“The amendment to the law effectively places the responsibility on the stone-thrower and not the prosecutor,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “Anyone who throws stones at cars or people has to assume someone will get hurt.”

The same amendment was passed by the Israeli cabinet in November under then-justice minister Tzipi Livni, but was not finalised by the time the parliament was dissolved ahead of the March 17 snap elections.

Stones are often thrown by Palestinian youths in clashes with Israeli security forces in illegally occupied Arab lands in Jerusalem and the West Bank, with the Israelis often using tear gas, rubber bullets and even live fire.