12 April 2026
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a controversial one-sided bill on February 28, that will instruct military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in acts of “terror”, but will not impose the same penalty on Jewish Israelis convicted of killing Palestinians.
The law, which enters into effect within 30 days, was approved in the 120-seat Knesset by 62 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with 48 voting against it and one abstention.
Its passage marks a major victory for Israel’s far right, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir having pushed for its enactment as one of the main conditions of his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party’s coalition agreement with Netanyahu.
International condemnation
Human rights organisations and Palestinian officials have denounced Israel’s approval of the legislation allowing the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks, arguing that it breaches international law and is fundamentally discriminatory because it does not apply equally to Israeli convicts.
The Palestinian Authority called the bill “a war crime against the Palestinian people”, saying that it breached the Fourth Geneva Convention, “particularly the protections it guarantees for individuals and the safeguards for fair trials”.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the legislation as a breach of international law and a doomed bid meant to intimidate Palestinians.
Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for Democratic Values and Institutions, told the Associated Press that “Jews will not be indicted under this law”.
Under international law, he noted, Israel’s parliament should not be legislating in the West Bank, which is not sovereign Israeli territory in spite of the best efforts of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition to annex the territory to Israel.
The lawyer for the Knesset’s National Security Committee also raised several concerns during earlier deliberations, noting that it did not allow clemency, contradicting international conventions.
According to Palestinian prisoner advocacy group Addameer, more than a third of the 9,500 Palestinians detained by Israel as of March 11 were being held under administrative detention without being tried.
Minutes after the law was passed, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said it had filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court to challenge it, describing it as “discriminatory by design” and “enacted without legal authority” over West Bank Palestinians.
Provisions of the Bill
The bill, which comes into effect as the occupied West Bank experiences a surge in Israeli military and settler violence, was condemned by the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The new law, introduced as Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continues, instructs military courts trying only West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens, to impose the draconian sentence for lethal attacks on Israelis.
Amnesty International said in February that it would make the death penalty “another discriminatory tool in Israel’s system of apartheid”.
A European Union spokesperson said passage of the legislation is “very concerning”.
“We call on Israel to abide by its previous principled position, its obligation under international law and its commitment to democratic principles,” he said.
Australia, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom voiced concerns over its “de facto discriminatory character” in a joint statement, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a post on X that it was “another step toward apartheid.”
Germany said it could “not endorse” the new law. “The German government views the law passed yesterday with great concern,” government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said in a statement.
“The rejection of the death penalty is a fundamental principle of German policy,” he said, also warning that “such a law would likely apply exclusively to Palestinians in the Palestinian territories”.
In a similar condemnation, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the legislation a “step towards apartheid”. “It is an asymmetrical measure that would not apply to Israelis committing the same crimes. Same crime, different punishment. It’s another step towards apartheid. The world cannot stay silent,” Sanchez wrote on X.
Under the law, executions would be carried out by hanging by prison guards appointed by the Israeli Prison Service. Those involved would have anonymity and legal immunity.
The legislation also mandates transferring the Palestinians sentenced to death to special detention facilities and restricting their visitors to authorised parties. Meetings with lawyers would be limited to video communications.
Since the beginning of its genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023, Israel has intensified measures against Palestinian prisoners. The conflict has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and wounded 172,000, most of them women and children.
The human rights group Amnesty International called on Israeli authorities to repeal the law, which it described as “a public display of cruelty, discrimination and utter contempt for human rights”.
“For years, we have seen an alarming pattern of apparent extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings of Palestinians – with the perpetrators also enjoying near-total impunity,” Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said in a statement.
In the Israeli context, where the justice system, particularly the military justice system, is notorious for its inherently discriminatory nature against Palestinians, and where convictions are routinely based on evidence extracted through torture and other ill-treatment, the use of the death penalty under such laws would amount to a violation of the right to life and of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) condemned the new law saying this law institutionalises discrimination by establishing a dual legal regime in which Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are liable to the death penalty in military courts, whilst Israeli citizens and settlers are excluded from this framework. Such a system is incompatible with the most fundamental guarantees of equality before the law and non-discrimination set out in Articles 2(1) and 26 of the ICCPR. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has clearly established that the death penalty must not be imposed in a discriminatory manner. Where certain groups are disproportionately exposed to the death penalty, this in itself raises serious concerns regarding unequal application under international law.
Israeli citizens and residents are explicitly excluded from this provision: military jurisdiction applies exclusively to Palestinians, while Israeli settlers are tried in civilian courts. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in a statement that military trials of Palestinians have ” an approximately 96% conviction rate, based largely on ‘confessions’ extracted under duress and torture during interrogations.”
Human Rights Watch also opposed capital punishment under all circumstances, as a practice unique in its cruelty and finality.
The following quote can be attributed to Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch:
“Israeli officials argue that the imposing the death penalty is about security, but in reality, it entrenches discrimination and a two-tiered system of justice, both hallmarks of apartheid. The death penalty is irreversible and cruel. Combined with its severe restrictions on appeals and its 90-day execution timeline, this bill aims to kill Palestinian detainees faster and with less scrutiny.”
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement Tuesday that the measure is a “particularly egregious violation of international law” and warned its application to residents of the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip “would constitute a war crime.”
The Trump administration has so far avoided joining critics, with a State Department spokesperson saying it “respects Israel’s sovereign right to determine its own laws,” adding: “We trust that any such measures will be carried out with a fair trial and respect for all applicable fair trial guarantees and protections.”
What is to be noted is the fact that although Israel was engaged in waging an unjust war against Iran, on the day when the new bill was passed by the Knesset. This shows that Israeli campaign against Palestinians the original occupants of Israel will continue unabatedly and the international organisations and western democracies will issue statements of outcry and condemnation, but nothing is going to change.
The usurper has gained all the authority in the occupied territories and it will continue with its expansionist policies undeterred and unchallenged as the lack of international will to stop colonisation of Palestinians is not there. Thus, the path of resistance is the only path available to Palestinians to get their due right.
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