Explained: Proposed Israeli death penalty law & why it’s being criticised

Israel is led by a coalition government that currently comprises five parties— Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, Otzma Yehudit, the Religious Zionist Party, Shas and New Hope. Ben-Gvir had said that he would stop his party from voting with the governing coalition if the proposed death penalty law isn’t voted on by Sunday, threatening the government’s survival.

As things stand, Likud and Netanyahu are on thin ice; after returning to power in 2022, Netanyahu has struggled to balance coalition pressures, and had to increasingly rely on far right allies like Ben-Gvir.

What the bill says

The bill sets out a rule that a person who “causes the death of an Israeli citizen”, either on purpose or by acting with “indifference”, and whose actions stem from a “racist or hostile motive” and are carried out with the aim of “harming the State of Israel and the national revival of the Jewish people”, will receive the death penalty.

For people tried in the military courts in the West Bank, the proposal adds that a panel of judges may impose this sentence by a “regular majority,” and that a death sentence issued under this provision “cannot be commuted.”

In its notes explaining the proposal, the government writes that the existing punishment for murder, life imprisonment, “does not deter” those involved in attacks. The notes refer to prisoner exchanges in which sentences were later shortened and say that some individuals who were released “returned to activity” linked to violence. The government presents these past exchanges as the reason life terms “do not prevent future acts.”

Israel’s death penalty law

Israel’s death penalty framework grew out of the British Mandate’s emergency regulations, which allowed the colonial authorities to try Palestinians and Jewish underground members in military courts and carry out executions. After the state was formed in 1948, it formally limited capital punishment, abolishing it for murder in 1954 but keeping it for treason, genocide and certain security offences.

When Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, it extended military law, including the death penalty, to the territories. While Israeli military judges have occasionally issued death sentences against Palestinians accused of attacks, every sentence was later overturned or commuted, leaving a system in which the law permits the punishment, but its use is determined by political and security calculations rather than equal application.

The only execution Israel has carried out was in 1962 of Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking Nazi officer convicted of war crimes and orchestrating the Holocaust.

The criticism

The bill has been condemned by various Palestinian groups and human rights activists. Critics say that the “most alarming aspect” of the bill is its retroactive application, the BBC reported.

Notably, the bill has drawn criticism because it applies only in situations where a Palestinian is accused of killing an Israeli, and it would be carried out through military courts that handle cases in the occupied territories. Lawyers say this creates a system where one population is exposed to a punishment that does not apply in the same way to others.

The BBC reported that the bill allows the death penalty to be used retroactively, which raises concerns among Palestinian human rights organisations that people already in detention could be affected the moment the law comes into force.

Human rights organisations also point out that, while Israel has not carried out judicial executions in many years, the security forces have used lethal force in other settings, including arrests, protests and targeted operations. They argue that introducing a formal death penalty in this context risks widening the gap between the protections available to Israelis and the legal tools used against Palestinians, and could further shape the way force is used in the occupied territories.