Death Penalty Law

The Knesset passed the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law (Hebrew) on March 30, 2026. The law, which violates the right to life and is directed solely against Palestinians, was vigorously promoted by coalition parties, chiefly Otzma Yehudit, headed by Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, as well as by the opposition party Yisrael Beiteinu. The law was passed by a majority of 62 out of 120 Members of Knesset (MKs), with 48 opposing. As soon as the law was enacted, human rights organizations and MKs filed several High Court petitions to have the law repealed as immoral, unconstitutional, discriminatory, and racist. The Court consolidated the hearing of the different petitions and ordered the State to respond to the petitioners’ arguments and their motion for an interim injunction by May 24, 2026, but dismissed the petitioners’ motion for a temporary injunction to prevent the implementation of the law.

The law establishes two tracks for its application: one in the West Bank, through military law (an amendment to the Order regarding Security Provisions); and the other inside Israel, through Israeli criminal law (an amendment to the Penal Law). In the military courts in the West Bank, the law prescribes death by hanging as a mandatory sentence (with limited exceptions at the discretion of the court) only for Palestinian defendants convicted of murder motivated by nationalist ideology. These provisions will not apply to settlers, even if they are convicted of murder in the West Bank, since they are not tried in military courts. In Israeli courts, the law provides for death or life imprisonment for persons convicted of terrorism-related murder, as defined in Israeli law, that was found to have been committed with the intention of denying the existence of the State of Israel. This provision is deliberately inapplicable to persons convicted of terrorism-related murder under other motives and is effectively irrelevant to Jewish defendants. In other words, this process will not apply to Jews either.

Each of these tracks is a grave violation of the fundamental rights to life, dignity, and due process. In addition, provisions for the application of the death penalty in the occupied territories are far stricter than in Israel, adding another dimension of discrimination beyond the fact that capital punishment effectively applies to Palestinians only. These provisions restrict judicial discretion and remove the requirement for a unanimous conviction, thereby violating the rights of criminal defendants and creating a risk of imposing irreversible punishments, including in cases of wrongful convictions.

Until now, Israel has refrained from imposing the death penalty with a single exception, the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1962. The Death Penalty Law is at odds with international law and democratic values. Introducing it runs counter to the global trend that has seen the abolition of capital punishment in most countries in the world for being a cruel, irreversible penalty that flies in the face of the most basic human rights values. No conclusive evidence has been found, in Israel or the rest of the world, that the death penalty serves as a deterrent, especially when it comes to ideologically or religiously motivated crime.

For further reading and listening

Petition by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel: Abolish the Death Penalty Law, March 30, 2026

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Urgent Petition to Israeli Supreme Court Against the Death Penalty Law: Racist Legislation Enshrining Inhumane Punishment and Systemic Oppression

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel: The Public Committee Against Torture podcast on the Death Penalty Law (Hebrew)

Bill on Prosecution of Defendants Accused of Participation in the October 7 Massacre

On May 11, 2026, the Knesset passed another law with the potential for capital punishment by a majority of 93 with no nay votes. The Law on the Prosecution of Defendants Accused of Participation in the October 7 Massacre (Hebrew) provides for the establishment of a special military tribunal vested with powers that include executions in keeping with provisions in existing Israeli public law as well as in military law (legislation predating the new Death Penalty Law and separate from it). While the law permits death sentences which, given their severity and irreversibility, require extra care, it also allows the tribunal to depart from the procedural rules and the laws of evidence normally followed in criminal proceedings, which are designed to protect defendants’ rights. The tribunal may do so at its discretion, in circumstances that meet the criteria set out in the law.

The need to prosecute people who took part in the atrocities of October 7 is beyond dispute. However, the opening for a departure from procedural norms raises concerns about rights violations in criminal proceedings. Additionally, the continued normalization of the death penalty and executions as legitimate tools of punishment in Israel is particularly troubling.

For further reading

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel: Yes to justice. No to show trials, torture & executions, May 5, 2026