Israel’s parliament has passed a highly divisive bill directing military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in what the law calls acts of terror. The measure does not apply to Jewish Israelis who kill Palestinians, a distinction that has drawn widespread criticism for being fundamentally one-sided.
The legislation cleared the Knesset on Monday in a 62-48 vote, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voting in favor. It will take effect in 30 days. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who made the bill a key condition of his coalition agreement, celebrated the result. He appeared wearing a small noose pin on his lapel and declared that anyone who takes a life will now face the same fate from the state.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the move as a war crime against the Palestinian people and said it violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, especially its guarantees of fair trials and protections for people living under occupation. Rights groups have raised similar alarms. They note that Palestinians in the West Bank are tried in military courts with conviction rates near 96 percent, often based on confessions obtained under duress.
Critics, including the Association of Civil Rights in Israel and B’Tselem, argue the law is discriminatory by design. It applies only to non-citizen Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, a territory where Israel has no recognized sovereignty under international law. They warn it could further normalize violence against Palestinians within the system.
This development comes amid rising violence in the West Bank, including stepped-up Israeli military operations and settler attacks. Several European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, have expressed deep concern over the bill’s discriminatory nature. Amnesty International has called it another tool that deepens unequal treatment.
Israel has technically had the death penalty on its statute books for decades but has carried out only one execution since 1962, that of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. This new law lowers the bar for imposing capital punishment in military courts and removes some existing safeguards, raising serious fears of irreversible miscarriages of justice.
A petition challenging the bill has already been submitted to Israel’s Supreme Court.
For many, this represents a significant victory for Israel’s far-right coalition. At the same time, it has deepened anxiety among Palestinians and sparked fresh questions about fairness and equality under a long-standing occupation.
