JERUSALEM –
Israel’s parliament passed a law on Monday to make death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks, fulfilling a pledge by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right allies.
The law would only apply to Israelis convicted of murder whose attacks aimed at “ending Israel’s existence,” meaning it would mete out the death penalty for Palestinians but not for Jewish Israelis who committed similar crimes, critics say. The legislation has drawn international criticism of Israel, which is already under scrutiny for increasing violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and its war in the Gaza Strip.
The measure includes provisions requiring an execution by hanging within 90 days of sentencing, with some allowance for a delay but no right to clemency. It provides the option of imposing a life imprisonment sentence instead of capital punishment, but only in unspecified “special circumstances.”