Overview
- The Knesset, which passed the bill Monday, approved the final reading 62–48 after months of debate.
- It covers intentional killings in terror attacks meant to deny Israel’s existence, with executions by hanging, and it applies only to future cases.
- Because Palestinians in the West Bank and parts of Gaza are tried in Israeli military courts, the law makes death the default in those cases while civil courts retain wider discretion for Israeli citizens.
- Judges can impose a death sentence without a prosecution request and without unanimity, and they can later convert it to life in prison.
- Human-rights groups condemned the law as discriminatory, four European foreign ministers issued a joint warning, and Israel’s civil-rights association has already petitioned the Supreme Court to block it.