Overview
- Israel’s parliament approved a law that allows death or life in prison for anyone who intentionally kills with the aim of ending the State of Israel, with the death penalty set as the default in West Bank military courts when cases are labeled terrorism.
- UN human-rights chief Volker Türk called the law discriminatory and said applying it in occupied territory could constitute a war crime under international humanitarian law.
- UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the UN opposes capital punishment in all cases and urged Israel to repeal the law and not enforce it.
- Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE issued a joint statement calling the law a dangerous escalation that singles out Palestinian prisoners.
- A separate bill under discussion would create a special military tribunal focused only on crimes tied to Oct. 7, which Türk warned would entrench biased justice, while Israel’s death penalty has been used only twice in its history, including the 1962 execution of Adolf Eichmann.