‘Assistance to Enemy in War’ – Israeli MK Requests Death Penalty for B’Tselem’s Director

Likud MK Revital Gotliv. (Photo: video grab)

The move followed a speech delivered by Novak on September 4 at the United Nations Security Council.

The Israeli Likud Party Knesset Member Revital Gotliv requested the death sentence or life imprisonment for Yuli Novak, the executive director of the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, for what she labeled as “the suspected serious crime of assistance to the enemy in war,” the Anadolu news agency reported.

Gotliv reportedly made her request in a letter addressed to the Israeli Chief Police Commissioner Daniel Levy, in which she demanded the detention and interrogation of Novak.

The move followed a speech delivered by Novak on September 4 at the United Nations Security Council.

The Knesset member said that ‘aiding the enemy’ is a crime under the penal law, “which carries the death penalty or a life sentence.”

“Novak has shamefully put the state of Israel, currently engaged in a war for survival, at risk and assisted Israel’s enemies on various fronts,” she wrote in her letter.

“Who needs enemies when you have Yuli Novak?” she questioned.

She further accused Novak of telling lies about Israel committing war crimes.

Novak’s Speech

The executive director of B’Tselem told a UN Security Council session via video call on September 4 that Israel has promoted “Jewish supremacy” since its inception.   

“To understand the Israeli government’s criminal conduct over the last 11 months, you have to understand the overall goal of this regime. Since Israel was founded, its guiding logic has been to promote Jewish supremacy over the entire territory under its control,” Novak said.

B’Tselem’s executive director accused the Israeli government of war crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip embodied in “expulsion, starvation, killing and destruction on an unprecedented scale,” to make the enclave “inhabitable.”

She further accused Israel of exploiting the events of October 7 “to violently advance its project of cementing Israeli control over the entire land.”

Moreover, Novak emphasized that Israel has taken advantage of the ongoing war on Gaza “to turn Israeli prisons into a network of torture camps for Palestinians. This violence is possible because Israel has enjoyed impunity for decades,” quoting a recent report by B’Tselem titled ‘Welcome to Hell’.

Novak concluded her speech by condemning the failure of the international community to put a halt to the war and to protect Palestinians in Gaza from “Israel’s criminal policy of massive harm to civilians in Gaza,” adding that this policy is at present extending to the West Bank.

Ongoing Genocide

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 40,878 Palestinians have been killed, and 94,454 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

GAZA LIVE BLOG: Massacre in Beit Lahia | Rockets from Lebanon | West Bank Raids Continue – Day 337

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety. 

(PC, Anadolu)

(The Palestine Chronicle is a registered 501(c)3 organization, thus, all donations are tax deductible.)
Our Vision For Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders & Intellectuals Speak Out

2 Comments

  1. Can things get more unbelievable? Apparently yes, they can. So a human rights organisation that chronicles abuses against the Palestinian peoples, Palestinian Christian, Druze and Bedouin peoples by the Israeli military, Zionist settlers and the security forces is to have it’s leader put on an execution list?! This Israeli government seems to have a suicide wish for the state of Israel and the possibility of people living together in mutual respect, equal justice and harmony.i despair.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*