Amnesty Worldwide says laws would imply ‘punishment is being reserved for, and weaponised towards, Palestinians’.
Printed On 3 Feb 2026
Amnesty Worldwide has referred to as on Israel to desert legislation that will broaden the usage of the loss of life penalty, warning that the measures would violate worldwide legislation and “additional entrench Israel’s apartheid system” towards Palestinians.
In an announcement on Tuesday, the human rights group stated two payments under discussion in the Knesset would mark a significant reversal of Israel’s longstanding opposition to capital punishment and would disproportionately goal Palestinians.
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The proposals, championed by authorities figures, together with far-right Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, would make the loss of life penalty “one other discriminatory software in Israel’s system of apartheid”, Amnesty Worldwide stated.
“These amendments imply that probably the most excessive and irrevocable punishment is being reserved for, and weaponised towards, Palestinians,” it stated.
“If adopted, these payments would distance Israel from the overwhelming majority of states which have rejected the loss of life penalty in legislation or in observe, whereas additional entrenching its merciless system of apartheid towards all Palestinians whose rights Israel controls.”
Israeli authorities have defended the measures, that are shifting to committee phases for debate, as a needed deterrent towards lethal assaults.
However authorized consultants stated their scope and software would violate worldwide authorized norms and end result within the unjust therapy of Palestinians.
The laws is being thought of throughout Israel’s genocidal war towards Palestinians within the Gaza Strip and a surge in Israeli navy and settler violence towards Palestinians within the occupied West Financial institution.
‘Reviving’ capital punishment
Israel abolished the loss of life penalty for “extraordinary crimes”, together with homicide, in 1954 and has not carried out an execution since 1962.
Whereas it retains the loss of life penalty for distinctive offences, comparable to genocide and treason, Amnesty Worldwide stated the proposed laws would “revive its implementation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territory” whereas weakening safeguards designed to forestall miscarriages of justice.
The payments embody one that will enable for the appliance of the loss of life penalty by amending the Israeli Penal Regulation and the Defence Laws that Israel applies to the West Financial institution, the group stated.
A second would introduce particular provisions and an advert hoc navy court docket to prosecute these accused of involvement within the Hamas-led assaults on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The rights group stated proposed amendments to navy legal guidelines relevant within the West Financial institution that will enable the loss of life penalty would in impact apply solely to Palestinians as a result of they’d explicitly exclude residents of Israeli settlements, that are unlawful below worldwide legislation.
Different adjustments, comparable to an modification making use of to these accused of deliberately inflicting “the loss of life of an individual with the purpose of harming an Israeli citizen or resident” or regarding violations linked with the October 7 assaults, have been additionally prone to solely impression Palestinians, it stated.
