The Knesset approves a law mandating death sentences for Palestinians, drawing warnings of war crimes and institutionalized apartheid.
Key Developments
- Knesset passes death penalty law for Palestinian prisoners in final vote.
- Law imposes mandatory executions within 90 days without judicial consensus.
- Rights groups warn implementation would constitute a war crime.
Knesset Approves Mandatory Death Penalty Law
The Israeli Knesset approved, on Monday evening, in its second and third readings, a law mandating the execution of Palestinian prisoners.
A total of 62 members voted in favor, 48 opposed, and one abstained. The legislation was introduced by Knesset member Limor Son-Harmalk and strongly backed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The law establishes the death penalty as the primary punishment for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, removing the requirement for judicial consensus and allowing sentences to be carried out by the Israeli Prison Service.
It mandates that executions be implemented within a period not exceeding 90 days from the issuance of the sentence.
While the law allows military courts to impose life imprisonment in what it describes as “special circumstances,” it also grants the head of the Israeli government the authority to request a delay in execution. However, any postponement cannot exceed a total of 180 days.
The legislation was fast-tracked after the Knesset’s National Security Committee approved it last week, dismissing more than 2,000 objections submitted during deliberations.
EXPLAINER: What Does Israel’s Final Vote on Death Penalty for Palestinians Mean?
‘Full-Fledged War Crime’
The passage of the law has drawn strong international and human rights criticism.
Britain, Germany, France, and Italy had urged Israel to abandon the legislation, warning of its consequences and stressing that the death penalty is “inhumane and degrading.”
Amnesty International said the law entrenches apartheid and warned that its implementation would constitute “a full-fledged war crime.”
The measure comes amid ongoing reports of severe abuse of Palestinian prisoners. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, around 9,500 Palestinians and Arabs are currently held in Israeli prisons.
The group also reported that the bodies of 97 detainees are being withheld, many of whom died due to torture and deliberate medical neglect. Since October 2023 alone, 86 prisoners have died, bringing the total number of deaths in custody since 1967 to 326.
Palestinian prisoners continue to face what rights groups describe as systematic violations, including torture, starvation, enforced disappearance, medical neglect, prolonged isolation, and various forms of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse.
The law marks a significant escalation in Israel’s penal policy toward Palestinians, formalizing a system in which execution becomes a central instrument of control under occupation.
(PC, Anadolu, Al Mayadeen)
Murderers and war criminals passing death penalty laws. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so SICK.
Israelis will never wash this stain from their hands, in the same way we usamericans will never be able to. Everyone who is responsible for this decision, for carrying it out, for engineering a society that would find this acceptable, should be exterminated.
So it is true: the Israeli Jews are scummy people. They’re showing that to us in live time. Can we denounce them yet, or is everyone too afraid?
If they all died tomorrow, would anyone care?
Adolph Hitler would be spinning in his grave! And I’m the baddie!?!? Anyway, Zyklon B was far more efficient …
Or, “Israeli” is turning into a Gulf state kingdom! This is the result of “normalizing”? Now what, head chopping like ISIS? And “Israeli” squeals about antisemizim!