Israel’s Knesset Approves Death Penalty Default for Palestinians in Military Courts

Israel’s parliament approved a law that makes the death penalty the default sentence for Palestinians convicted in Israeli military courts of deadly attacks deemed “acts of terrorism,” with executions by hanging within 90 days.

“When Israel passed a death penalty law that solely targets Palestinians, it was to be expected that the country’s far right would celebrate”

Al Jazeera

CNN reported that the bill “stipulates that residents in the West Bank who kill an Israeli ‘with the intent to negate the existence of the State of Israel’ will be sentenced to death,” while also allowing life imprisonment instead of death based on “special reasons or circumstances.”

Al Jazeera

BBC said the Knesset passed the bill’s third and final reading “by 62 votes to 48 on Monday,” with Netanyahu voting in favour, and described the execution timeline as “within 90 days” with “a possible postponement of up to 180 days.”

Amnesty International said the Knesset passed the law “by a 62-member majority in the Knesset,” and described it as expanding “death penalty for terrorists” provisions in Israel’s Penal Code.

The Guardian reported that the legislation would make death the default punishment for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank found guilty of intentionally carrying out deadly attacks deemed acts of terrorism by a military court, with executions “within 90 days of sentencing.”

In the Knesset, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir celebrated the vote, with BBC saying he posted on X: “We made history!!! We promised. We delivered.”

The new legislation is structured around different legal tracks for Palestinians and Israelis, with CNN saying Palestinians in the West Bank are “subject to military law, while Israeli settlers are subject to Israeli civilian law.”

CNN added that the bill “amends military court rules in the occupied West Bank, allowing judges to impose the death penalty without needing a unanimous decision,” and said the Israel Prison Service would carry out executions by hanging “within 90 days of sentencing, with no right to appeal.”

Amnesty International

BBC similarly described a default death sentence for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks, stating that Palestinians “would be executed by hanging within 90 days” with “a possible postponement of up to 180 days.”

Amnesty International said the law creates “two legal frameworks for using the death penalty in the occupied West Bank,” and that “Military courts will not be allowed to issue a life sentence, instead of the death penalty, except in extraordinary circumstances not defined by law.”

Amnesty also said defendants “will only have the right to appeal the conviction, not to appeal the death sentence, nor to seek a reduction of the sentence or clemency,” and described the result as “one of the most extreme death-penalty laws in the world.”

In the Guardian’s account, the bill would hold death-sentenced prisoners in a separate facility with “no visits except from authorised personnel,” and legal consultations “only by video link,” while also allowing courts to impose death “without a request from prosecutors and without requiring unanimity.”

Al Jazeera framed the law as part of a broader system, quoting B’Tselem’s Yair Dvir saying, “Fundamentally, this is an apartheid regime,” and arguing that “There are entire sets of laws that differentiate between Jews and Palestinians.”

Supporters of the bill portrayed it as a necessary response to lethal attacks, while critics said it entrenches discrimination and violates international law.

“The Knesset approved on Monday, March 30, a law that allows courts to impose the death penalty on people identified as 'terrorists' by Israel”

Amnesty International France

CNN reported that Ben Gvir said, “Israel is changing the rules of the game today: Whoever murders Jews will not continue to breathe and enjoy prison conditions,” and it also noted that he “brought a champagne bottle into the Israeli parliament to celebrate.”

BBC described Ben Gvir’s public celebration as he posted on X: “We made history!!! We promised. We delivered,” and it quoted Limor Son-Har-Melech arguing that the law was necessary after her husband was killed and one of her husband’s killers was later released and went on to take part in the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.

Opposition and rights groups condemned the law as vengeance and racist violence: CNN said a coalition of human rights and civil society organizations called it an “official stamp of approval on a policy of vengeance and racist violence against Palestinians.”

BBC quoted Yair Golan saying the legislation was “an unnecessary piece of legislation designed to get Ben-Gvir more likes,” adding, “It does not contribute one ounce to Israel's security.”

UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned that the law would be a war crime, with BBC saying Türk described its application as “constitute a war crime,” and the Guardian quoting Türk saying it was “patently inconsistent with Israel’s international law obligations.”

Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara-Rosas said the Knesset passed a law that signals it will be “the first in a series of laws that facilitate the use of the death penalty,” and she argued it strips Palestinians of humanity, saying, “Israel is openly granting itself an absolute mandate to execute Palestinians while depriving them of the most basic guarantees of due process.”

International reactions to the law were sharply divided, with European governments and UN officials condemning it while the United States emphasized Israel’s sovereignty.

The Guardian reported that the EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said in Brussels, “This is a clear step backwards – the introduction of the death penalty, together with the discriminatory nature of the law,” and it quoted Volker Türk describing the law as “patently inconsistent with Israel’s international law obligations, including in relation to the right to life.”

Anadolu Ajansı

France 24 said the European Commission strongly condemned the law, with spokesperson Anour Al-Anouni calling it “a clear step backward, both in terms of enacting the death penalty and in terms of the discriminatory character of the law.”

Germany’s government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said Berlin “views the law passed yesterday with great concern,” and the Guardian quoted Kornelius saying, “The rejection of the death penalty is a fundamental principle of German policy.”

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the measure as “another step toward apartheid,” writing on X that it was “an asymmetric measure that would not apply to Israelis who committed the same crimes.”

In contrast, CNN reported that the United States said it “respects Israel’s sovereign right to determine its own laws and penalties for individuals convicted of terrorism,” and it quoted a US State Department spokesperson saying, “We trust that any such measures will be carried out with a fair trial and respect for all applicable fair trial guarantees and protections.”

Legally, multiple outlets described immediate challenges: CNN said “Immediately after the vote, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice to reject the bill,” while the Guardian said “Several Israeli human rights groups and three members of parliament filed petitions to the supreme court seeking to overturn it.”

Al Jazeera also described Israeli rights groups and analysts arguing the law is part of “a long line of legal measures” that normalized an “apartheid” legal system, with Yair Dvir saying, “It’s part of the system and what makes up daily life for people here.”

The debate over the death penalty law is presented in the sources as unfolding against the backdrop of the Israel-United States war on Iran and the ongoing war on Gaza that began in October 2023, with multiple outlets linking the legal change to the wider conflict.

“Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks face death penalty under new Israeli law Israel's parliament has approved a law that would make the death penalty the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks”

BBC

Al Jazeera said the law’s introduction came as “the start of the Israel-United States war on Iran” was followed by a “spike in settler violence,” and it described the law as targeting Palestinians by ethnicity, with conviction rates for Palestinians tried in military courts running to “99.74 percent.”

BBC

CNN said the bill would not apply to Hamas militants who participated in the “October 7, 2023, massacre,” because the government was promoting “a separate bill to establish a dedicated tribunal.”

Amnesty International said the law was adopted “in the same month that the Israeli military prosecutor-general dropped all charges against Israeli soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee,” and it argued the timing “plainly reveals how Israel strips Palestinians of their humanity.”

The Guardian described the law as a mechanism that could speed executions, saying it “aims to kill Palestinian detainees faster and with less scrutiny,” and it quoted Adam Coogle of Human Rights Watch saying, “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.”

It also quoted Shaista Aziz of Oxfam saying, “This bill is another horrifying act of violence,” and that Israel “holds more than 9,000 Palestinians in its jails – many unlawfully and subject to inhumane conditions, starvation and torture as state policy.”

In a separate political reaction, Anadolu Ajansı reported that Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş called the law “a grave crime against humanity,” and said the Knesset approved a bill “prescribing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners,” with hangings carried out by guards appointed by the Israeli Prison Service and with “executors granted anonymity and legal immunity.”

Hamas condemned the law as threatening prisoners’ lives, with BBC saying Hamas said the approval “threatens the lives” of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and called on the international community to “ensure the protection of our prisoners.”