Genocide Watch: Israel’s Death Penalty Law Violates International Law and Israel’s Basic Law

 Genocide Emergency Alert:

Israel’s Death Penalty Law Violates International Law and Israel’s Basic Law

 

Israel has executed only two convicted criminals since 1948. The first was Meir Tobianski, executed in 1948 for treason, who was posthumously exonerated. The second was Adolf Eichmann, executed in 1962 for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes against the Jewish people.

 

On March 30, 2026, in a 62 to 47 vote, Israel’s parliament passed a law mandating capital punishment—by hanging—for  acts of terrorism and killings “negating the existence of the State of Israel”. The law includes procedures that expedite executions and it sharply limits opportunities for appeal. The law as written will be exclusively applied to Palestinians. The law was introduced by the far-right Jewish Power party led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. 

 

The law’s scope is explicitly exclusionary. Israeli citizens and residents are not subject to its provisions. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza will be prosecuted in military courts. Israeli settlers in the West Bank are subject to civilian courts. The West Bank and Gaza will have two unequal legal systems. Palestinians may be sentenced to death. Israelis will not be subject to capital punishment. The law violates Article 4 -- protection of life, body and dignity in Israel’s Basic Law.

 

The law weakens safeguards traditionally associated with use of the death penalty. It includes lowered evidentiary thresholds, altered judicial requirements, and the possibility of convictions without unanimity. It imposes an accelerated timeline for executions— 90 days—restricting meaningful avenues for review and heightening the risk of irreversible error.

 

Israeli military courts have been trying Palestinians in the Occupied Territories since 1967. Military court judges and prosecutors are always Israeli soldiers in uniform. Palestinian defendants are almost always convicted for violating orders issued by Israel. Military courts are powerful mechanisms for maintaining Israel’s control over Palestinians

 

Israeli military courts have a longstanding record of discrimination against Palestinians. Conviction rates in military courts reach 96 percent, raising serious questions about the presumption of innocence and the independence of judicial proceedings. Amnesty International, B’Tselem and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories have documented coercive interrogation practices, including torture, to extract “confessions.”

 

Israel is a State-Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Hague Conventions of 1907, and the Geneva Conventions.

 

ICCPR Article 6(2) permits capital punishment only under the most restrictive conditions. Where it has not been abolished, the death penalty must be reserved for the “most serious crimes” and applied in full compliance with stringent fair trial guarantees. Imposition of capital punishment that discriminates by ethnic identity or citizenship is collective punishment that violates Article 33 of the Geneva Conventions. It is a war crime.

 

The Hague Conventions of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibit occupying powers from resettling their citizens in occupied territories. They protect the rights of populations under occupation.

 

Under the Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts by the International Law Commission, states are obligated not to recognize or support discriminatory policies under international law.

 

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International have called for repeal of this discriminatory law.

 

Genocide Watch condemns the 2026 Israeli death penalty law and calls for its repeal. The Supreme Court of Israel should rule that the 2026 death penalty law violates Israel’s Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, Articles 2 and 4 (“All persons are entitled to protection of their life, body, and dignity.”