Israel parliament passes first reading of death penalty for ‘terrorism’ law
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/11/israeli-parliament-nods-to-bill-to-introduce-death-penalty-for
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/10/middleeast/israel-parliament-death-penalty-foreign-media-hnk-intl
Israel’s parliament has passed the first reading of a bill that would introduce the death penalty for “terrorism”.
The amendment to the penal code, proposed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was approved by 39 votes to 16 in the 120-member Knesset on Monday, signalling it has support from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
According to the draft text, the death penalty would apply to individuals who kill Israelis out of “racist” motives and “with the aim of harming the State of Israel and the revival of the Jewish people in its land”, The Times of Israel reported.
Critics said the wording means that in practice, the death penalty would apply almost exclusively to Palestinians who kill Jews, not to Jewish hardliners who carry out attacks on Palestinians.
The bill also amends the military courts law, with jurisdiction over the occupied West Bank, allowing courts there to impose the death penalty by a simple majority vote on the judge’s panel instead of a unanimous vote. It also rules out any option of allowing extenuating circumstances in the sentencing. Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to military law, while Israeli settlers are subject to Israeli civilian law.
Attempts to introduce similar legislation have failed in the past. The current bill must pass a second and third reading before becoming law.
A statement from the National Security Committee that includes the bill’s explanatory note said: “Its purpose is to cut off terrorism at its root and create a heavy deterrent.”
Not sure what this would add as the IDF already 'neutralizes' any suspects on site. I suspect it's a ploy to kill Marwan Barghouti.
‘Blatant violation of international law’
Ben-Gvir welcomed the result of the vote on social media and said his Jewish Power party is “making history”.
Human rights groups have condemned Ben-Gvir’s long-running push for such legislation, warning that it targets Palestinians specifically and deepens systemic discrimination.
While the death penalty still exists for a small number of crimes in Israel, it has become a de facto abolitionist state. Nazi Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann was the last person executed by the country when he was put to death in 1962.
The UN has previously condemned Israel’s military courts in the occupied West Bank, saying that “Palestinians’ right to due process guarantees have been violated” for decades, and denounced “the lack of fair trial in the occupied West Bank.”
UN experts said last year that, “in the occupied West Bank, the functions of police, investigator, prosecutor, and judge are vested in the same hierarchical institution – the Israeli military.”
Foreign media bill
In the same session, lawmakers also approved the first reading of a separate bill that would allow the Israeli government to shut down foreign media outlets without a court order.
The proposal seeks to formalize what has been dubbed the “Al Jazeera Law,” after the Qatari network’s operations in Israel were shuttered in 2024 by the Ministry of Communications. The ministry accused Al Jazeera of anti-Israel bias and of supporting Hamas through its coverage of the Gaza war.
Al Jazeera has repeatedly denied those accusations and condemned its closure in Israel. Multiple Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza have also been killed by Israeli forces over the last two years.
The new foreign media legislation, introduced by Likud lawmaker Ariel Kallner and backed by Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, would make such powers permanent — even outside times of war or national emergency — and remove the requirement for judicial oversight.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the proposal, calling it “the first nail in the coffin of broadcast media’s editorial independence in Israel.”
“Against a backdrop of war and an upcoming election campaign, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is seeking to silence voices critical of the far-right coalition in power,” said RSF editorial director Anne Bocandé. “These legislative attacks will have lasting, negative consequences on Israel’s media landscape,” she warned.
