Overview
- The Knesset, which voted 62–47 Tuesday after nearly 12 hours of debate, approved a law making death by hanging the sentence for lethal attacks tried in military courts.
- The statute requires execution within 90 days, lets a simple majority of judges impose it, blocks appeals, and allows life terms only in vaguely defined “special circumstances”; it is not retroactive, with Oct. 7 cases handled in a separate bill.
- The measure applies in practice to Palestinians in the West Bank who face military courts, while Israeli citizens are tried in civilian courts and wording in the law is designed to avoid sweeping in Jewish extremists.
- Foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy, and the UK urged Israel to scrap the plan before the vote, and leaders of the Council of Europe condemned the passage and warned Israel’s observer status could be at risk ahead of a planned April 22 debate.
- Israeli opposition parties and human rights groups said they will petition the Supreme Court, and the Palestinian Authority called the decision a dangerous escalation.