Well, I think there is a slight difference between putting somebody to death and giving him a short prison sentence.
In Islamic countries, people (especially women) are sentenced to death (usually by stoning) for lot less serious crimes than this.
Incidentally, I am not aware that Israel has ever sentenced a woman to be stoned to death, for any crime. I am not aware that Israel sentences homosexuals to death, as Islamic countries like Iran do. Israel has never sentenced anybody to death or given somebody long prison sentence for converting away from Judaism (as they do in Islamic countries for converting away from Islam).
I condemn this prison sentence; I think it is barbaric and inhumane. But let us have some perspective here. There is no comparison between Israel and Islamic countries. Islamic countries are much more barbaric, much more nasty and vicious than Israel.
I agree that Israel doesn't stone adulterous women. But read any report from any human rights group regarding Israel and its pretty clear Israel is also barbaric and inhumane.
Barbaric and inhumane?
Amnesty International 2010 Annual Report
http://thereport.amnesty.org/sites/default/files/AIR2010_AZ_EN.pdf#page=129
[start quote]Israeli forces committed war crimes and other
serious breaches of international law in the Gaza
Strip during a 22-day military offensive code-named
Operation “Cast Lead” that ended on 18 January.
Among other things, they carried out indiscriminate
and disproportionate attacks against civilians,
targeted and killed medical staff, used Palestinian
civilians as “human shields”, and indiscriminately
fired white phosphorus over densely populated
residential areas. More than 1,380 Palestinians,
including over 330 children and hundreds of other
civilians, were killed. Much of Gaza was razed to the
ground, leaving vital infrastructure destroyed, the
economy in ruins and thousands of Palestinians
homeless.
Israeli forces continued to impose severe
restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) throughout
2009, hampering access to essential services and
land. The restrictions included a military blockade of
the Gaza Strip, which effectively imprisoned the
1.5 million residents and resulted in a humanitarian
crisis. Despite this, Israel often stopped
international aid and humanitarian assistance from
entering Gaza. Permission to leave Gaza to receive
medical treatment was denied or delayed for
hundreds of seriously ill Palestinians and at least
28 individuals died while waiting for permission to
travel. Israeli forces continued to forcibly evict
Palestinians, demolish their homes and expropriate
their land in the occupied West Bank, including East
Jerusalem, while allowing Israeli settlements to
expand on illegally confiscated Palestinian land.
Throughout the year, Israeli forces used excessive
and, at times, lethal force against Palestinian
civilians. Allegations of ill-treatment against
Palestinian detainees continued and were rarely
investigated. Hundreds were administratively
detained without charge; others were serving
sentences imposed after unfair military trials. Israeli
soldiers and settlers who committed serious human
rights abuses against Palestinians enjoyed virtual
impunity. [/end quote]
Barbaric and inhumane?
Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict∗
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf
[start quote]55. The Mission investigated four incidents in which Israeli forces coerced Palestinian civilian
men at gun point to take part in house searches during the military operations (Chapter XIV).
The Palestinian men were blindfolded and handcuffed as they were forced to enter houses ahead
of the Israeli soldiers. In one of the incidents, Israeli forces repeatedly forced a man to enter a
house in which Palestinian combatants were hiding. Published testimonies of Israeli soldiers who
took part in the military operations confirm the continued use of this practice, in spite of clear
orders from Israel’s High Court to the armed forces to put an end to it and repeated public
assurances from the armed forces that the practice had been discontinued. The Mission
concludes that this practice amounts to the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields and is
therefore prohibited by international humanitarian law....
...Civilians, including women and children, were detained in degrading conditions,
deprived of food, water and access to sanitary facilities, and exposed to the elements in January
without any shelter. The men were handcuffed, blindfolded and repeatedly made to strip,
sometimes naked, at different stages of their detention.
58. In the Al Atatra area in north-western Gaza Israeli troops had dug out sand pits in which
Palestinian men, women and children were detained. Israeli tanks and artillery positions were
located inside the sand pits and around them and fired from next to the detainees.
59. The Palestinian men who were taken to detention facilities in Israel were subjected to
degrading conditions of detention, harsh interrogation, beatings and other physical and mental
abuse...
[/end quote]
So let me get this straight SJP... You don't think the above is barbaric and inhumane?