{"id":366781,"date":"2026-03-31T01:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/366781\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:56:09","slug":"israel-passes-death-penalty-law-for-palestinians-convicted-of-lethal-attacks-against-israelis-the-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/366781\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel passes death penalty law for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks against Israelis \u2013 The Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Israelis,<\/p>\n

Israelis, foreigners and Palestinians demonstrate in Beit Jala village in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on December 19, 2025, against a bill proposing the death penalty that could apply to Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis. (HAZEM BADER \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Grace Gilson<\/a><\/p>\n

\n March 30, 2026\n <\/p>\n

(JTA<\/a>) \u2014 The Israeli parliament passed a law on Monday mandating the death penalty for West Bank Palestinians convicted of carrying out deadly attacks against Israelis.<\/p>\n

The law, which was approved by the Knesset in a vote of 62-48 following nearly 12 hours of debate, marked a victory for Israel\u2019s far-right following a years-long push to increase penalties for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted for the measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a day of justice for the victims and a day of deterrence for our enemies. No more revolving door for terrorists, but a clear decision. Whoever chooses terrorism chooses death,\u201d far-right Israeli security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has long lobbied for the measure, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The legislation has drawn widespread opposition from critics in Israel and beyond, including Israeli justice officials, progressive Jewish groups and the foreign ministers of Australia, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom<\/a>. Critics of the law say it effectively mandates the execution of Palestinian attackers while intentionally excluding Jewish extremists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the highly volatile political climate that now imperils the rule of law in Israel, this issue further normalizes the invocation of state violence,\u201d Michael Zoosman, the co-founder of L\u2019chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty, wrote in a Times of Israel op-ed<\/a> in January. \u201cIt widens the gap between modern-day Israel and the central Jewish value of the inviolability of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minutes after the legislation\u2019s passage, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel announced that it had filed a petition to Israel\u2019s highest court asking it to strike down the legislation, calling it \u201cdiscriminatory by design.\u201d The current right-wing government has sought to weaken the court\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n

The law does not actually spell out that it is meant for Palestinians only. But mandates death by hanging as the default punishment for non-Israelis convicted in military court of deadly nationalistic killings. Only West Bank Palestinians are tried in military courts.<\/p>\n

The law includes provisions that judges can opt for life imprisonment under unspecified \u201cspecial circumstances,\u201d but the death penalty would otherwise be mandatory.<\/p>\n

While the law includes a separate provision that allows courts to impose the death sentence on Israeli citizens, who are tried in civilian courts, it stipulates that it is only intended for those who seek to \u201cnegate the existence of the State of Israel,\u201d which experts say would likely exclude Jewish Israelis.<\/p>\n

The law will not apply retroactively to militants held by Israel for their role in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, who are the subject of a separate bill now under consideration.<\/p>\n

The law\u2019s passage comes as Israel\u2019s critics accuse it of maintaining an apartheid state. Some of the law\u2019s critics say it adds ammunition to that argument.<\/p>\n

Mickey Gitzin, the acting CEO of the New Israel Fund, decried the law in a statement, writing that it \u201cstrikes at the core of liberal democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake: this is a death-penalty law for Arabs alone. Its message is unmistakable\u2014Jewish lives matter, Arab lives are cheap,\u201d Gitzin said, adding that the group and its grantees were \u201calready on the front lines\u2014bringing this law to court, demanding it never be carried out, and working to scrub it from Israel\u2019s books like the stain it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the CEO of T\u2019ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, condemned the passage of the legislation in a statement<\/a>, calling it a \u201csign of Israel\u2019s dangerous slide into violent populism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis legislation moves Israel away from justice rooted in dignity, restraint, and equality, and toward a politics of vengeance that endangers lives and erodes the moral foundations of the state,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cThis is a moment of reckoning for Jewish organizations and American Jewish leaders. Those who care about human life and dignity for all living in the land must speak out forcefully against this law and continue to work for systemic change.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us. <\/p>\n

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward \u2014 and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.<\/p>\n

The Forward doesn\u2019t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.<\/p>\n

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.<\/p>\n

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