Tag: Knesset

Israel passes death penalty bill for Palestinians


The Knesset passes a highly discriminatory law

March 2026

The Israeli Knesset has just passed by a majority of 62 a bill which will allow the executions of Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks in the West Bank. The executions will take place by hanging and do so it is planned, 90 days after conviction or in some cases 180 days. The law is nakedly discriminatory and is a piece with the apartheid policy which exists in the country. No appeals will be allowed and legal contact with the convicted person is via video link only. The Knesset erupted into loud cheers and Ben Gvir was seen waving a champagne bottle in celebration. An illustration of the lapel badge he wears is below.

It has brought a wide range of condemnation from around the world. It will do nothing for Israel’s somewhat battered reputation internationally. A statement by Amnesty International said:

‘Today, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, adopted the first in what threatens to be a series of laws facilitating the use of the death penalty, in a public display of cruelty, discrimination and utter contempt for human rights. The amendment added to Israel’s Penal Law, known as the ‘Death Penalty for Terrorists’, expands the scope and facilitates the use of capital punishment, at a time when there is a global trend towards abolishing it. It also dismantles fundamental safeguards to prevent the arbitrary deprivation of life and protect the right to a fair trial, and further empowers Israel’s system of apartheid, which is maintained by scores of discriminatory laws against Palestinians.’ Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society called it a ‘historic escalation – a new phase of openly sanctioned [and] politically motivated executions of Palestinian prisoners’.

Torture and mistreatment

A particular problem is that Palestinians are imprisoned and subject to considerable mistreatment. This can include starvation, physical assaults of various kinds and lack of medical attention. The Times of Israel among others have reported on the inhuman conditions. Testimony and confessions therefore, produced under this system of abuse and torture, will have little credence. Some of the descriptions are horrific and there is a WARNING about the following link.

The problem here is that violence begets violence. An almost ceaseless tide of violence in Gaza, southern Lebanon, parts of Syria, the West Bank and now Iran, has bred into the society that yet more violence is the answer to the security of the state.

Large numbers of British MPs from all parties are members of the Friends of Israel groups, funded by the Israeli government, including the Trade Minister, Peter Kyle. The Salisbury MP, Mr John Glen is a member of this lobby group.

Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. Mistakes cannot afterwards be corrected. It is not a deterrent and it imposes huge stresses on those who carry out the punishment. The local group publishes a report each month on its use around the world.

Sources: Times of Israel, BBC, Guardian, Palestine Prisoner’s Society, Al Jazeera

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Israel proposes death penalty for Palestinians


First reading passes in the Knesset

November 2025

Israel’s intention to introduce the death penalty has been met with widespread alarm and criticism form both within and outside the country. The bill was introduced by Itama Ben-Gvir who afterwards distributed baclava pastries to celebrate. The last time Israel used the penalty – which has been on the books since the country was founded – was in 1962 for the Nazi Adolf Eichmann.

“An indelible stain on Israel” Haaretz editorial 3 November

The law as proposed, is drafted in a way to apply only to Palestinians and is another example of the

apartheid system which operates in the country. It will be administered by military courts peopled often by individuals who have little or no judicial experience.

Neither will the court have discretion since the sentence will be mandatory. It is Ben-Gvir’s claim that the penalty will be a deterrence. There is next to no evidence for this and the same arguments against the use of the penalty apply here as to the rest of the world. It is barbaric and reduces the state to the level of the perpetrators. Mistakes cannot be rectified. It is not a deterrent. One of the few notionally civilized countries which retains and uses the penalty is the US. A study there between the States with the penalty and those without found no difference in murder rates. In fact, murder rates are higher in states with the death penalty.

Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, said:

“There is no sugarcoating this; a majority of 39 Israeli Knesset members approved in a first reading a bill that effectively mandates courts to impose the death penalty exclusively against Palestinians. While the text of the bill does not specifically single out Palestinians, the mental element required for the offence concerned signals its primary victims are going to be Palestinians and would include those who committed the punishable offences before the law is passed.

“Knesset members should be working to abolish the death penalty, not broadening its application. The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, and an irreversible denial of the right to life. It should not be imposed in any circumstances, let alone weaponized as a blatantly discriminatory tool of state-sanctioned killing, domination and oppression. Its mandatory imposition and retroactive application would violate clear prohibitions set out under international human rights law and standards on the use of this punishment.“

Sources: Knesset, BBC, CNN, Haaretz; le Monde, Amnesty

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