Israel passes controversial death penalty law

Israel has passed a law which will make the death penalty by hanging the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis.

The UK, Germany, France and Italy criticised the legislation, saying in a joint declaration it will "significantly expand the possibilities for imposing the death penalty".

The allies called the law "de facto discriminatory" and said that by passing it, "Israel risks undermining its commitments to democratic principles".

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The death penalty "is an inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterrent effect", adding that rejecting it "is a fundamental value that unites us", the four nations said.

Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, headed the push for the legislation, as he campaigned for tougher punishments for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offences against Israelis.

Mr Gvir described the law as long overdue and a sign of strength and national pride, telling the Israeli parliament directly before the vote: "From today, every terrorist will know, and the whole world will know, that whoever takes a life, the State of Israel will take their life."

Afterwards, he brandished a bottle in celebration, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat motionless.

Opponents of the bill, under which executions should be carried out within 90 days of sentencing, said it is racist, draconian and unlikely to deter attacks by Palestinian militants.

The legislation calls for the death penalty to go into effect within 30 days.

Critics fear law will solely be applied to Palestinians

The bill's critics include Israelis and Palestinians, international rights groups and the UN, some of whom fear the death penalty could end up being applied solely to Palestinians convicted of murdering Jewish citizens of Israel.

The sentence will be applied by a military court to anyone convicted of murdering an Israeli "as an act of terror".

Such courts try only West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens. The bill says military courts can change the penalty to life imprisonment in "special circumstances".

Israel's courts, which try Israeli citizens, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, can choose between life imprisonment or the death penalty in cases of murder aiming to harm Israeli citizens and residents or "with the intent of rejecting the existence of the state of Israel".

Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute's Centre for Democratic Values and Institutions, said the distinction is discriminatory as it means, in effect, Jews "will not be indicted under this law".

In addition, the West Bank is not sovereign Israeli territory, so under international law, Israel's parliament should not be legislating over it, Mr Cohen said.

The Association of Civil Rights in Israel said it had petitioned the country's highest court to challenge the law, calling it "discriminatory by design" and "enacted without legal authority" over West Bank Palestinians.

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Israel has the death penalty on its books, but the country hasn't put anyone to death since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

The bill will not apply retroactively to any of the militants Israel currently holds who attacked the country on 7 October 2023.

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