Israel's parliament has advanced a controversial bill that would mandate the death penalty for individuals convicted of killing Israelis, a move critics argue is designed to target Palestinians and prevent future prisoner exchanges.
The bill, proposed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, passed its first reading in the Knesset with 39 votes in favor and 16 against. While the text does not explicitly single out Palestinians, its criteria mean it would apply almost exclusively to them. The law mandates the death penalty for murder motivated by racism or intent to "harm the State of Israel and the revival of the Jewish people in its land". Critics, including human rights organizations and the Palestinian Authority, state this wording ensures the law will be weaponized as a blatantly discriminatory tool against Palestinians, while Jewish extremists who carry out attacks on Palestinians would not be subject to its provisions.
The bill's advancement was met with celebration from its proponents. Minister Ben-Gvir handed out sweets to fellow lawmakers after the vote, stating, "After the law is finally passed - terrorists will only be released to hell". A statement from the Knesset's National Security Committee said the purpose was to "nip terrorism in the bud and create a weighty deterrent". However, the move has been widely condemned. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs labeled it a "new form of escalating Israeli extremism and criminality," while Hamas stated it "embodies the ugly fascist face of the rogue Zionist occupation". Human rights group Amnesty International called it a "blatantly discriminatory tool of state-sanctioned killing, domination and oppression".
A key motivation behind the bill, according to its supporters, is to prevent future prisoner-exchange deals. Limor Son Har-Melech, a member of Ben-Gvir's party who sponsored the bill, explicitly noted, "A dead terrorist does not get released alive". This references past deals where Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis were released in exchange for Israeli hostages. The vote took place in the context of a fragile ceasefire that saw the release of the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza and thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Israeli jails. This legislative push occurs alongside other harsh measures, including the advancement of a bill to permanently allow the closure of foreign media outlets like Al Jazeera and the ongoing operation of a previously closed, inhumane underground jail for Palestinian detainees.
Human rights organizations emphasize that this bill violates multiple principles of international law. Its mandatory imposition and potential retroactive application breach clear prohibitions. Palestinian human rights groups argue that the law's true intent is to carry out "collective death sentences" against hundreds of Palestinian detainees, particularly those from elite forces arrested after October 7, 2023. Amnesty International states this legislation is "yet another blatant manifestation of Israel’s institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians, a key pillar of Israel’s apartheid system". It is also noted that the bill would authorize military courts, which have a conviction rate of over 99% for Palestinian defendants, to impose these irreversible sentences.
For the bill to become law, it must pass a second and third reading in the Knesset, a process that is not guaranteed. This move places Israel against the global trend toward abolishing the death penalty. Since the state's establishment in 1948, Israel has only carried out one civilian court-ordered execution: that of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962. As of today, 113 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. The international community is being urged to exert maximum pressure on the Israeli government to immediately scrap this bill.