Israeli Death Penalty for Terrorists Law Is Signed Into Effect

Israel’s death penalty law for Palestinians from the West Bank convicted of deadly acts of terrorism came into effect on May 17, after the commander of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) Central Command, Maj. Gen Avi Bluth signed the military order.

The order requires a military court presiding over the prosecution of terrorists whose attacks resulted in the death of a victim to apply the death penalty under specific conditions, unless the court finds special circumstances permitting a more lenient punishment of life imprisonment.

After the legislation called the “Death Penalty for Terrorists Law, 5786–2026” was passed by the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) in March with a vote of 62–48, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz requested that Bluth approve the military order, an action he took on May 17.

In the wake of Bluth’s order, both Katz and Israeli National Security Minister Itmar Ben Gvir issued a joint statement praising the move.

“This is a clear and sharp change of policy after the October 7 [2023] massacre: A terrorist who murders Jews can no longer rely on [prisoner exchange] deals, [good prison] conditions, or the hope to be released in the future,” the two ministers said, according to a statement provided to media outlets on May 17.

“Whoever chooses murderous terrorism against Jews needs to know that the State of Israel will bring him to justice.”

Ben Gvir claimed the signing of the military order was a victory for his conservative Otzma Yehudit political party, which had campaigned on the promise of instituting capital punishment for Palestinian terrorists.

“We promised and we delivered,” he said in a May 17 post on X, adding that “after October 7, the State of Israel is changing the equation. In the face of murderous terror, we do not fold and do not contain—we decisively strike.”

Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel, along with other NGOs and members of the Knesset, filed a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court challenging the law in March, demanding it “be declared null and void.”

The court ordered the state to respond by May 24, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and Australia jointly urged Israel to rethink a new death penalty via hanging for convicted terrorists back in March.

Under the legislation passed on March 30, an accused individual must be found to have intentionally caused death under the circumstances of terrorism with the aim of negating the existence of Israel.

Once a death sentence is final, it needs to be carried out within 90 days via hanging.

That law, however, applies only to future cases and has no retroactive clause, meaning it does not apply to the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorists.

A separate bill was passed in the Knesset on May 12 by a vote of 93–0, with 27 lawmakers absent or abstaining.

It establishes a special tribunal that would have the authority to hand down death sentences to Palestinians convicted of taking part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attack.

That bill, which empowers a panel of judges to sentence those convicted to death by a majority vote, also stipulates that the trials must be livestreamed from a Jerusalem courtroom.

It provides for defendants to appeal their sentences, but those appeals must be heard by a separate, specialized appeals court rather than Israel’s regular appeals courts.

Adalah said the bill denies suspects “basic procedural protections essential to a fair trial,” in a press release earlier this month.

Crystal Rose Jones contributed to this report.