The Israeli parliament on Monday approved a deeply controversial bill that broadens the use of the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism-related and nationalist killings, an issue long championed by Israel’s far-right political camp.
Under the legislation, Palestinians in the West Bank who kill an Israeli “with the intent to negate the existence of the State of Israel” will automatically face the death penalty. Judges, however, may still impose life imprisonment if there are “special reasons or circumstances.”
The bill also mandates that executions be carried out by hanging within 90 days of sentencing, while eliminating the right of appeal.
Critics argue that the legislation effectively reserves capital punishment for Palestinians convicted of nationalist crimes, while similar attacks carried out by Jewish Israelis against Palestinians are excluded.
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians are governed by military law, whereas Israeli settlers are subject to civilian Israeli law.
The new bill changes military court procedures by allowing judges to hand down death sentences without requiring a unanimous ruling.
The law will not apply to Hamas fighters involved in the October 7, 2023, attack, as the Israeli government is pushing a separate measure to create a special tribunal for those cases.
Human rights organizations and civil society groups in Israel strongly condemned the legislation, describing it as “an official stamp of approval on a policy of vengeance and racist violence against Palestinians.”
The coalition further argued that the law is especially troubling because it “targets Palestinians while exempting Israelis.”
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society also condemned the bill, saying it marks “a historic escalation, a new phase of openly sanctioned, politically motivated executions of Palestinian prisoners.”
The law is already being challenged in court. Shortly after the vote, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice to block the legislation.
Opponents believe the measure could eventually be overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court on constitutional grounds.
Backed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the bill passed its second and third readings in parliament by 62 votes to 48, with one abstention.
Ben Gvir reportedly brought a bottle of champagne into parliament to celebrate the vote and had earlier threatened to pull his party out of the governing coalition if the bill was not brought forward.
“Israel is changing the rules of the game today: Whoever murders Jews will not continue to breathe and enjoy prison conditions,” Ben Gvir said after the bill was approved.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously opposed the bill because of fears that it could endanger Israeli hostages held in Gaza. However, after the Gaza ceasefire took effect, he reversed his position, backed the legislation and voted in favor of it.
Israel currently reserves the death penalty for exceptional crimes such as treason and Nazi-era war crimes, but executions have not been carried out in decades.
Only two people have ever been executed since the creation of the Israeli state: an Israeli military officer convicted of treason in 1948, and Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was hanged in 1962 after being captured in Argentina and convicted in a landmark Israeli trial.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid strongly criticized the bill during debate in the Knesset.
“We are not like Hamas; we are exactly the opposite of Hamas. We did not establish a Jewish state to adopt the moral standards of radical Islam. This law says: If they come to murder us, the only solution is to be like the murderers. To act like them, think like them, become them.”
Before the vote, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom urged Israeli lawmakers to abandon the bill, citing “deep concern” over what they described as its discriminatory nature.
“The adoption of this bill would risk undermining Israel’s commitments with regards to democratic principles,” the ministers said in a joint statement.
The United Nations has also repeatedly criticized Israel’s military courts in the West Bank, arguing that “Palestinians’ right to due process guarantees have been violated” for years and condemning “the lack of fair trial in the occupied West Bank.”
