{"id":104962,"date":"2026-04-01T10:43:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=104962"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:43:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:43:23","slug":"the-media-lens-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/the-media-lens-41\/","title":{"rendered":"The Media Lens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n1 April 2026 | 10:45 CAT
\n3-minute read<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Outrage after Israel passed discriminatory death penalty law for Palestinians<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Monday, \u201cIsrael\u2019s\u201d parliament approved a law that would make death by hanging the default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks. The new law was passed in the Knesset with a final vote of\u00a062 in favour and 48 against.<\/p>\n

Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir strongly backed the measure, wearing noose-shaped lapel pins in the run-up to the vote. When the measure passed, he brandished a bottle in celebration as the chamber erupted in cheers.<\/p>\n

The new legislation primarily affects\u00a0Palestinians<\/strong>\u00a0convicted of certain acts of terrorism. It mandates the death penalty within 90 days as the default sentence for West Bank residents \u2013 specifically excluding Israeli citizens or residents living there \u2013 who intentionally cause the death of a person in an act of terrorism.<\/p>\n

The discriminatory nature of the law has led to widespread international criticism, with the EU denouncing the bill as a “grave regression” from Israel’s long-standing de facto moratorium on executions, and the UN stating the law is “patently inconsistent” with international law.<\/p>\n

Following the vote, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in West Bank cities like\u00a0Nablus, Ramallah, and Hebron<\/strong>\u00a0to protest the establishment of a two-tier justice system that weaponises capital punishment against Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Hafidh Ibrahim said during this week\u2019s Media Lens<\/a> on Radio Islam International that the law entrenches despicable actions that have already been carried out in practice and explained that the\u00a0Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)\u00a0and\u00a0Adalah\u00a0have already filed petitions with the\u00a0Supreme Court.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Analysts have observed that media coverage has been sparse. News stories that have covered the incident are neutral in tone — failing to outline the discriminatory design of the law and neglecting to contextualise the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s been very little coverage, and what coverage there is has been, you know, neutral, you know, not contextualising the issue, not talking about the\u00a0discrimination, not linking it to Israel’s further, activities to actually\u00a0entrench a racialised minority rule over majority\u2026very little focus on the actual backlash that has happened.\u00a0Many would prefer that this issue wasn’t governed,\u201d Hafidh Deen said.<\/p>\n

The current conflict in the Middle East has been dominating the media, with a specific focus on the Strait of Hormuz, which deflects attention from Israel and allows it to continue its heinous activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been some coverage of its expansionist ideals in Lebanon, but nothing about the entrenchment,\u00a0for example, of its occupation of the West Bank, which has been extended and expanded\u00a0and accelerated in the past few months. And this basically is allowing Israel to create its own\u00a0facts on the ground and basically change the situation on the ground,\u201d Hafidh Deen said.<\/p>\n

Analysts warn that Israel\u2019s colonial plans could become concrete, with the possibility that it will entrench its dictatorial rule rather than establish a democratic state becoming increasingly real.<\/p>\n

Hafidh Deen said that while rare criticism and sanctions from some European states signal a gradual political shift in response to public sentiment, the pace remains slow, and with regional and economic interests still enabling Israel\u2019s actions, there are growing concerns that any meaningful change may come too late.<\/p>\n

Listen <\/strong>to the Media Lens<\/a> with Hafidh Ibrahim on Sabaahul Muslim, hosted by Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za 1 April 2026 | 10:45 CAT 3-minute read Outrage after Israel passed discriminatory death penalty law for Palestinians On Monday, \u201cIsrael\u2019s\u201d parliament approved a law that would make death by hanging the default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks. The new law was passed in the Knesset […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":98476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4997],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Media-Lens-1.jpg?fit=375%2C376&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-riW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 19:01:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}