Yossi Schwaerz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 12.05.2026
The ISL condemns the new racist law intended to execute freedom fighters. The Plenum of the Pig Pen, known in Israel as the Knesset (Parliament), approved in the second and third readings yesterday (Monday) the Death Penalty for freedom fighters Bill, 5786-2026 offered by Knesset Member Limor Son Har-Melech, MK Nissim Vattori and a group of Knesset members. 62 Knesset members supported the proposal, while 48 opposed it. 1 abstained. All opposition objections to the bill were rejected.
It states that the Minister of Defense instruct the commander of IDF forces in the area to amend the order regarding security provisions that apply in the West-Bank area, so that a resident of the area, with the exception of an Israeli citizen or an Israeli resident, who intentionally caused the death of a person in an act of terrorism, will be sentenced to death only, unless the military court finds that there are special circumstances for which a life sentence should be imposed.
It is also to establish that the authority of a military court to impose this sentence will not be contingent on the prosecution’s request, on a unanimous decision by the panel, or on the fact that the rank of the judges is no less than that of a lieutenant colonel. It is also proposed to determine that the commander of Zionist forces in the area will not be allowed to pardon, mitigate or commute the death sentence imposed under this offense.
In addition, it amends the Penal Law, so that the cause of a person’s death in order to negate the existence of the State of Israel in the circumstances of a terrorist act will be sentenced to death or life imprisonment only. In addition, it is proposed to establish that the court’s authority to impose the death penalty for offenses under the Penal Law and under the Law on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide will not be contingent on the prosecution requesting it.
It is also proposed to establish that the death sentence under this law will be carried out by hanging, within 90 days from the day it became conclusive, and to authorize the Prime Minister to ask the court to delay the execution for special reasons, for a cumulative period not exceeding 180 days.
The bill states that the designated court, which will be able to hear the cases of more than 250 fighters held in Israel since October 7, will be in effect a military court. It will be indicted for the so called Israeli offenses of genocide, infringement of the sovereignty or integrity of the state, causing war and aiding the enemy in war, offenses under the Counter-Terrorism Law, murder, and more. The indictments will be submitted to a military court in Jerusalem and the Chief of Staff, on the recommendation of the Military Advocate General, will be entitled to appoint the prosecutors. According to the proposal, the court will have several panels appointed by three judges, at least one of whom served as president of a military court. The court will be able to deviate from the rules of procedure and the laws of evidence if it is convinced that this is necessary, inter alia, with regard to the examination of investigative material, an evidentiary chain, making a decision based on written arguments, and adjustments to the testimony of witnesses.
The 255 organization, which was founded by survivors of captivity and families of abductees and accompanied the discussions on the law, welcomed the bill. At the same time, he said, “The State of Israel has a duty to ensure that the families and survivors do not become victims of the incident again, this time within the legal process itself. As part of the discussions, the organization worked to ensure that essential rights such as maintaining privacy, attending hearings, receiving information, and sensitive and respectful conduct toward the victims of the offense would be an integral part of the future proceeding.”
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel condemned the passage of the bill: “The survivors of the massacre and the families of the victims deserve justice and the truth – no revenge in the form of show trials, and no death sentences that will be imposed on the basis of confessions obtained under torture.” The committee’s director-general, Adv. Sari Bashi, said that “the death penalty is always unacceptable, as it is a cruel and inhuman punishment that denies the right to life. The next government must repeal the law and remove the death penalty from the statute book of the State of Israel.”
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) expressed its opposition to the death penalty this morning “In a sweeping way, whatever the arrangement may be, both as a means of punishment and certainly as a means of deterrence. The death penalty is contrary to the most basic values of human rights – the sanctity of life and human dignity. It stands in stark contrast to the values of the State of Israel and essential democratic principles, and undermines the moral foundations of human society. It contradicts the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, as it deprives the constitutional human rights to dignity and life. It is also contrary to international law and Israel’s obligations as the occupying power towards the Palestinian residents of the occupied territories.”
According to the association, the death penalty turns the law into a violent tool in the hands of the government, corrupts society, and instills in it norms of violence, extremism, and indifference to the value of life. In addition, “the judicial system, like any human system, is not immune to errors. Even if the use of the death penalty could be justified from a substantive point of view, the fear that one person might be put to death through no fault of his own is enough to invalidate this cruel and irreversible punishment.”
“The bill singles out the death penalty for Palestinians only, as can be seen from section 1 of the bill, according to which the death penalty will be given to a person who murders another out of ‘… The goal is to harm the State of Israel and the revival of the Jewish people in its land” and the explanatory notes that the bill was formulated against the background of “the murder of Jews, but because they are Jews.” In doing so, the bill seeks to create a normative arrangement whereby Palestinian nationalist violence directed against Jews is more severe than any other type of violence, including Jewish nationalist violence against Palestinians, and must be met with particularly cruel punishment. This, of course, is a fatal blow to the value of equality, which shows that the purpose of the law is the racist premise that the lives of Jews are more important and worthy of protection than those that are not. This purpose in itself is not democratic, and it is fundamentally unacceptable,” they stressed.
The association believes that “this bill cannot be treated in isolation from the policy that has been practiced against Palestinian prisoners and detainees since the outbreak of the war until today. This policy includes abuse, violence, starvation, prolonged coercion, housing in deplorable sanitary conditions, and denial of medical care, meetings with lawyers and representatives of the Red Cross, in which dozens of people have died. It is clear that this bill was formulated against the backdrop of the same vindictive and cruel sentiment directed against Palestinian prisoners since October 2023, and is not intended to serve any other purpose than the desire to execute them under the auspices of the law.”
The newspaper Israel Hayom, under a headline that effectively turns the Nazis into fighters, called the law that allows the execution of the fighters for the liberation of the Palestinian people by hanging. The newspaper wrote:
“Eichmann Theorem 2:
Hundreds of modern Nazis will be brought under heavy security to the special courts that will be established, and on the podium will be the survivors of the massacre and kidnappers who have been released • This is what the trial of the Nokhva terrorists will look like, which will cost over a billion shekels”[i]
“This is a special bill, moral and historic, to bring to justice those who have committed the most horrific crimes against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. It will apply to those who took part in the atrocities on October 7-10.
It also grants jurisdiction to prosecute those who committed offenses against those abducted from Israel to Gaza, including abductees who perished in captivity. The terrorists will also be charged with genocide.
In a very unusual way in the past four years, this law has been enacted together by the coalition and the opposition. After Netanyahu, Yariv Levin, the Attorney General or the Justice Ministry did nothing, it was Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beiteinu who initiated the law.”[ii]
Those racist MKs who support this law should be punished.
Endnotes:
[i] https://www.israelhayom.co.il/magazine/hashavua/article/20490636
[ii] Ibid