Israel has passed a law which will make the death penalty – by hanging – the default punishment for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks.
The move has been harshly condemned by rights groups and the international community, including the UK, as discriminatory and inhumane.
Israel’s minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who spearheaded the push for the legislation and has worn noose-shaped lapel pins in the run-up to the vote, brandished a bottle in celebration after it passed.
The passage of the bill marked the culmination of a yearslong drive by the far-right to escalate punishment for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offenses against Israelis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the Knesset to vote for the bill in person.
Prior to the vote, the UK, France, Germany and Italy called the law “de facto discriminatory” and said it risked “undermining Israel’s commitments with regard to democratic principles”.
What does the bill say?
The measure includes provisions requiring an execution by hanging within 90 days of sentencing for anyone convicted of “deliberately causing the death of a person with the intent of ending Israel’s existence.”
It provides some allowance for a delay but no right to clemency and the option of imposing a life imprisonment sentence instead of capital punishment.
It also gives Israeli courts the option of imposing the death penalty on Israeli citizens convicted on similar charges, but legal experts say the language effectively confines those who can be sentenced to death to Palestinian citizens of Israel and excludes Jewish citizens.
The legislation will take effect in 30 days and will not apply retroactively to any prisoners Israel currently holds, including the Hamas-led militants who attacked the country 7 October 2023.
Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party argues that the death penalty will deter Palestinians from carrying out deadly attacks against Israelis or attempting kidnappings with the aim of affecting swap deals for Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons.
However Amnesty International, which tracks countries imposing death penalty laws, says there “is no evidence that the death penalty is any more effective in reducing crime than life imprisonment.”
After the final 62-48 vote in favour, Israeli politicians erupted into cheers and stood up in jubilation. Netanyahu remained in his seat and did not immediately react or speak.
Could it face legal challenges?
Minutes after the bill passed, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said it had filed an appeal against the law with Israel’s Supreme Court.
It called the legislation “discriminatory by design” and said the parliament had enacted it “without legal authority” over West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens.
Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for Democratic Values and Institutions, said that under international law, Israel’s parliament should not be legislating in the West Bank, which is not sovereign Israeli territory.
During the debate in parliament, Gilad Kariv, of the Labor Party, said the bill contravenes international law and risks turning Israeli soldiers and prison guards into “war criminals against their will.”
He also condemned the bill’s stipulation that a unanimous judgment is not required to impose the death sentence.
“A law in which a person can be sentenced to death without a unanimous conviction. Is this justice in your eyes? Is this the sanctity of life that Israeli tradition has taught us?” he asked.
Some opposition politicians also worry the bill could harm future hostage negotiations.
What has the reaction been?
The foreign ministers of Australia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy released a statement Sunday urging Israel to abandon plans to pass the law.
The death penalty “is an inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterrent effect”, adding that rejecting it “is a fundamental value that unites us”, the nations said.
A group of UN experts said that the bill includes vague definitions of “terrorist”, meaning the death penalty could be meted out over “conduct that is not genuinely terrorist” in nature.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the legislation as a breach of international law and a flawed bid to intimidate Palestinians.
“Such laws and measures will not break the will of the Palestinian people or undermine their steadfastness,” Abbas’ office said in a statement. “Nor will they deter them from continuing their legitimate struggle for freedom, independence, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad called on Palestinians to launch attacks in revenge for the law.
Israel’s leading rights groups decried the law as “an act of institutionalised discrimination and racist violence against Palestinians.”
Israeli rights group B’Tselem says that military courts in the West Bank, where Palestinians are tried for alleged crimes, have a 96% conviction rate and have a history of extracting confessions through torture.
Before the vote, Ben Gvir described the law as long overdue and a sign of strength and national pride.
“From today, every terrorist will know, and the whole world will know, that whoever takes a life, the State of Israel will take their life.”
Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and support for the Kach group on the Israeli and US terrorism blacklists, has overseen an overhaul of prisons that has led to allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners.
He made capital punishment for Palestinian militants a main pledge in his 2022 election campaign.
Israel has not put anyone to death since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.
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