A New Law in Israel: Death Penalty for Terror Charges
Israel’s parliament has passed a law that approves the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terror charges related to deadly attacks. This move has drawn strong criticism from the international community and human rights organizations, who describe it as discriminatory and inhumane.
The bill was supported by 62 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while 48 voted against it. The legislation was championed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. In the lead-up to the vote, Ben Gvir wore a lapel pin shaped like a noose, symbolizing his support for the law. He later celebrated the passage on social media, stating, “We made history!!! We promised. We delivered.” He also warned that “every terrorist will know, and the whole world will know, that whoever takes a life, the State of Israel will take their life.”
Key Provisions of the Law
The law makes the death penalty — by hanging — the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of nationalistic killings. It also gives Israeli courts the option of imposing the death penalty on Israeli citizens for similar charges. However, legal experts argue that this effectively limits those eligible for the death penalty to Palestinian citizens of Israel, excluding Jewish citizens.
Under the bill, anyone “who intentionally causes the death of a person with the aim of harming an Israeli citizen or resident out of an intention to put an end to the existence of the State of Israel shall be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.” Criminal courts handle cases involving Israeli nationals, including Palestinian citizens and residents of East Jerusalem.
The execution method is specified as hanging, and it should be carried out within 90 days of sentencing, with a possible postponement of up to 180 days. The sentence may be reduced to life imprisonment under “special circumstances.”
Criticism and Legal Concerns
Minutes after the bill passed, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the country’s highest court to challenge the law. The group claims the legislation is “discriminatory by design” and argues that the parliament lacks legal authority over West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens.
“In military courts, which have jurisdiction over West Bank Palestinians, it establishes a near-mandatory death sentence,” the rights group said. In civilian courts, the law’s stipulation that defendants must have acted “with the aim of negating the existence” of Israel “structurally excludes Jewish perpetrators,” they added.
Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for Democratic Values and Institutions, stated that under international law, Israel’s parliament should not be legislating in the West Bank, which is not sovereign Israeli territory. During the debate, opposition lawmaker and former deputy Mossad director Ram Ben Barak expressed outrage at the legislation, asking, “Do you understand what it means that there is one law for Arabs in Judea and Samaria, and a different law for the general public for which the State of Israel is responsible?”
International Condemnation
The foreign ministers of Australia, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy released a statement urging Israel to abandon plans to pass the law, calling it “de facto discriminatory” and saying the death penalty was unethical and had no “deterring effect.” The Council of Europe described the adoption of the law as “a serious regression.”
The Palestinian Authority condemned the law, stating that “Israel has no sovereignty over Palestinian land.” It claimed the law reveals the nature of the Israeli colonial system, which seeks to legitimise extrajudicial killing under legislative cover.
Experts note that the legislation has two key elements that will effectively limit the death penalty to Palestinians. First, the bill makes the death penalty a default punishment for nationalistic killings in military courts, which try only West Bank Palestinians and not Israeli citizens. It states that only in special circumstances can military judges change the sentence to life imprisonment.
Legal Implications and Public Reaction
The second element is how the bill defines the offense punishable by death: killing that rejects the existence of the state of Israel. “It will apply in Israeli courts, but only to terrorist activities that are motivated by the wish to undermine the existence of Israel. That means Jews will not be indicted under this law,” said Cohen.
Although Israel technically has the death penalty on the books as a possible punishment for acts of genocide, espionage during wartime, and certain terror offences, the country hasn’t executed anyone since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.
