West Bank Palestinians face death by hanging under Israel’s new anti-terror law; the last death sentence in the country was Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962

In a landmark and divisive move, Israel’s parliament has voted to significantly expand the use of capital punishment, approving legislation that makes execution the default sentence for Palestinians from the West Bank convicted of carrying out deadly terrorist attacks.

According to the Washington Post website, Israel has executed only two people in its 78-year history, with the last case dating back to 1962 when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was put to death. Although the death penalty remains on the statute books for crimes such as genocide, wartime espionage and certain terrorism offenses, it has not been used since.

The law mandates execution by hanging within 90 days of sentencing, allows the prime minister to delay it by up to 180 days, and permits life imprisonment only under undefined “special circumstances.”


“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,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said according to the Washington post website.

All about the new law

Backed by Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party, the law is set to take effect in 30 days, pending legal challenges, and applies differently in civilian courts for Israelis and military courts for Palestinians in the West Bank.

According to the Guardian website, amid growing international condemnation, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the law is “patently inconsistent with Israel’s international law obligations, including in relation to the right to life,” warning it raises “serious concerns about due process,” is “deeply discriminatory,” and must be repealed.

The law makes the death penalty the default for Palestinians in the West Bank convicted of intentional deadly terrorist attacks in military courts and requires death row inmates to be held separately with limited contact and legal access to video links, and mandates execution within 90 days of sentencing.

According to KAN, the executions would be carried out by hanging.

The measure permits death sentences by simple majority and allows West Bank military courts to issue them with the defence minister's input.

Legal challenges are already underway in Israel, with human rights groups and three members of parliament filing petitions to the Supreme Court to overturn the law.

International reaction

Opposition lawmakers, rights advocates, academics and several foreign governments swiftly condemned the measure, calling it discriminatory.

“Such laws and measures will not break the will of the Palestinian people or undermine their steadfastness,” Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, said. “Nor will they deter them from continuing their legitimate struggle for freedom, independence, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

“The European Union opposes capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances,” the bloc’s foreign policy arm said. “The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and cannot be executed without violation of the absolute right to be free from torture and other ill-treatment. Capital punishment also has no proven deterrent effect and renders any judicial errors irreversible.”

The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy voiced “deep concern,” saying they are “particularly worried about the de facto discriminatory character of the bill.”