JERUSALEM — Israeli lawmakers passed the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law on March 30 after “years-long efforts from Otzma Yehudit,” expanding capital punishment and mandating “death by hanging,” according to an article from the Death Penalty Information Center.
Author Hayley Bedard wrote that the new law authorizes death by hanging for “offenses classified as ‘terrorism related,’” adding that it “applies exclusively to Palestinians.” She noted, however, an explanation from The Times of Israel showing that the language of the “new capital offense to Israel’s penal code” is “designed to exclude Jewish Israelis from [the] punishment.”
Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said that “Israeli officials argue that imposing the death penalty is about security” when it actually “entrenches discrimination and a two-tiered system of justice.” He added that, with the “90-day execution timeline” and “severe restrictions on appeals,” the bill kills “Palestinian detainees faster and with less scrutiny.”
Similarly, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel raised concerns in its “petition with Israel’s Supreme Court,” noting that the “requirement of carrying out sentences within 90 days of a final ruling … is not enough time for meaningful appellate review, clemency, or to prove a wrongful conviction.”
The group argued the law “violates the right to life and creates a two-tiered legal system providing different punishments for different groups,” making it unconstitutional and “discriminatory by design.” Additionally, it stated that the Knesset, which passed the legislation, has “no legal authority to legislate over Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Experts from the United Nations indicated that “mandatory death sentences are prohibited because they are inherently arbitrary,” and international law requires “that death sentences must be reserved only for the most serious offenses, follow fair proceedings, and allow for the consideration of pardon or commutation,” according to the report.
Bedard stated that several Muslim countries — Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to Al Jazeera — “strongly condemned” the law.
She added that the European Union “reminded Israel of its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel Association Agreement,” and urged the country to “abide by its previous principled position and with its obligations under international law, as well as its commitment to democratic principles.”
Countries including Australia, Germany, France, Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom also denounced Israel’s new law in a joint statement to the Knesset, along with Alain Berset, secretary general of the Council of Europe, who said the passage is “a grave step backwards from Israel’s long-standing de facto moratorium.”
A State Department spokesperson from the United States indicated that the U.S. would “[refrain] from denouncing” the legislation and “respect” Israel’s ability to “determine its own laws and penalties.”
The new law “deeply restricts defendants’ rights: providing limited access to legal representation and family visits, limiting external oversight, and shielding anyone who carries out an execution from legal liability,” the report said.
Experts said they hope the Israeli Supreme Court will “invalidate this manifestly unlawful legislation without delay, before it gives rise to irreversible harm and further entrenches discrimination, arbitrariness and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment against Palestinians.”
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