On Monday, March 30, the Israeli Knesset passed the Death Penalty for Terrorists law with an almost exclusive application to Palestinian prisoners—attracting criticism from the international community for its positioning within a biased judiciary.
The law constitutes a breaking with precedent, considering the marginal cases of capital punishments that have been executed since Israel’s creation. While the death penalty is often applied more selectively and only to the gravest offenders, it is made a judicial norm by the current law.
Passed with the endorsement of Israel’s far-right National Security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir in a 62-48 vote, the law is the latest development in a systemic effort to deny Palestinians their rights.
Most alarming is the absence of fundamental legal guardrails, including court appeals, clemency and external oversight of proceedings.
Once issued, the sentence for a “terrorism related offense,” which mandates death by hanging, must be carried out within 90 days. There are no exceptions to execution, except for an option to substitute a prisoner’s death sentence with lifetime imprisonment. ًHowever, this amendment can be made only under “special conditions” that aren’t described in the statut — making application less likely in a judicial proceeding.
Gvir, in an interview with the Jerusalem Post, spoke of legislation for a death penalty as a preventative measure to another Oct. 7, in reference to the Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023 that killed 1,200, which in turn initiated a more than two-year war that has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians.
Critics, NGOs and international activists, however, point out that there is limited evidence that death penalties promote deterrence at all. Instead, the state’s newly adopted law will result in more harm, as an increasing number of innocent Palestinians face the risk of being fatally sentenced in a court system that disproportionately convicts them.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, condemned the legislation, affirming that its application to Palestinians constitutes a violation of international human rights law. Other statements were released by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the foreign ministers of New Zealand and several EU member states.
The “terrorism-related offenses” that the law refers to are defined in Israel’s Counter-Terrorism and Terrorism in Cyberspace Law, passed by The Knesset in 2016. Intended to prosecute incitement to terrorism, proselytization and the provision of services to terrorist organizations, the law, although pledged to prevent human rights abuses, immediately raised concerns about its implications for free speech.
Terrorism is defined as an ideological, nationalistic, religious or politically motivated act with the intent of coercing a government into compliance with an objective or inciting mass fear. Its broad definition thus makes it applicable to any group. Israel’s death penalty legislation, however, specifically defines these acts as those committed with the intent of “negating the existence of the State of Israel,” thereby excluding most Israeli offenders by language.
Deputy Middle East Director of Human Rights Watch, Adam Coogle, explained how, within Israel’s parliament, the punitive law masquerades as a national security measure.
“Israeli officials argue that imposing the death penalty is about security, but in reality, it entrenches discrimination and a two-tiered system of justice, both hallmarks of apartheid,” Coogle said.
He further emphasized that the bill’s language is designed to promote the execution of Palestinian detainees “faster and with less scrutiny.”
Palestinian defendants are automatically tried in state military courts, where they face a 96% conviction rate. The majority of these are the result of forced confessions, extracted under conditions of duress and torture during interrogations, reports Israeli human rights NGO BTselem. Those incarcerated, who range from children to older adults, are at risk for systematic violence, abuse and the denial of food and medical services within overcrowded state prisons.
On Wednesday, April 1, Palestinians across the West Bank and East Jerusalem took to the streets to protest the law after Mahmoud Abbas, president of the semi-governmental body, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and his Fatah party called for a strike.
Riman, a resident of Ramallah in attendance, voiced his fellow protestors’ grievances over the death penalty. Due to an increase in the state’s military presence in the Occupied Territories, Israel’s law creates a much greater risk for Palestinians than for other groups.
“There isn’t a single person standing here who doesn’t have a brother, a husband, a son or even a neighbor in prison, he said. “There is no Palestinian family without a prisoner.”
