London, 30th March 2026 – Today, the Israeli death penalty bill for Palestinians will face a second and third reading in the Knesset. The bill, which looks set to be passed, has been approved by the Knesset’s National Security Committee and initiated by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party.  

The progression of the legislation marks an extreme escalation in Israel’s genocidal policies against Palestinians and consolidates Israel’s apartheid judicial system, embedding racist discrimination against Palestinians into law and once again allowing Israel to violate international norms. 

The bill would introduce a mandatory death penalty for ‘terrorist acts’, that does not require judicial unanimity, with executions to be carried out by hanging within 90 days of confirmation by the Israeli Prison Service. Individuals sentenced to death would be held in a separate facility with no visits except from authorised personnel, with legal consultations conducted only by video link. Harrowingly, many Israeli parliamentarians including Ben Gvir have worn noose-shaped lapel pins in support of the bill. 

This would only apply to military courts, which only try West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens. This means the law would be used to kill Palestinians, but Israelis who commit terrorist acts would not be held to the same legal standards, and would not face the death penalty. 

This is especially noteworthy, considering the current Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, was previously arrested on suspicion of attempting to blow up a highway in Israel with 700 litres of gasoline. Meanwhile, Ben Gvir himself has been convicted of supporting Israeli terrorist organisations and having a portrait of an Israeli terrorist in his office, Baruch Goldstein. 

While some Western governments have expressed their ‘deep concern’ over the bill in recent days, the response remains perfunctory. An urgent and uniform response from the international community is needed to call out Israel’s intentional and targeted killing of Palestinians, and its explicit apartheid legal system. 

The death penalty bill echoes Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour’s message to the UNSC last year, that the only right Palestinians have, is to die. The progression of the legislation marks not just a profoundly unjust and illegal act of discrimination under international law, but a far more sinister escalation of Israel’s apartheid legal systems.  

Órlaith Roe, ICJP’s Public Affairs and Communications Officer, said: 

“Israel’s targeted killing of Palestinians is part of a longstanding and deeply disturbing pattern. The death penalty bill contravenes the very foundations of international law and marks a draconian escalation in Israel’s codification of ethnic cleansing policies against Palestinians. It not only constitutes a direct assault on the right to life, but does so in a manner that is both openly discriminatory and grossly disproportionate. 

By reserving the most extreme and irreversible punishment for Palestinians, this legislation risks becoming yet another instrument of systemic inequality and discrimination in Israel’s genocidal playbook. If western governments are serious about their so-called democratic principles, they will act immediately and unequivocally to prevent the bill from becoming law.” 

ENDS 

Notes to Editors: 

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians is an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law. 

For more information, or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson, please contact the ICJP news desk at [email protected]. 

Image: Israel Police via Wikimedia Commons.