Israel shouldn’t ‘soften’ the proposed death penalty bill. Get rid of it

The Israeli Knesset

A Haaretz editorial on 26 February 2026:

The Knesset National Security Committee is discussing “softening” the bill that legalizes and imposes the death penalty (on Arabs only). This comes at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who foresees the likely diplomatic damage that will be caused by the legislation, which has no equivalent in the democratic world – including in the few places, such as the United States, where the death penalty still exists.

The main issue in the debate is over the “mandatory” component of the sentence. As it is, the penalty would apply to cases involving Palestinian suspects tried in the West Bank military courts. Instead of a mandatory death penalty, without leaving the court any discretion, as is in the current draft bill, the compromise would state that the death penalty is the default, but the court would be allowed to deviate from this sentence on exceptional grounds and in special circumstances.

There is definitely a difference between zero judgment and discretion in rare cases, but the chances of the courts using the latter is not great.

Such a model – of death penalty by default and judicial discretion in rare cases – does not exist anywhere in the democratic world. The bill also retains an element of racial discrimination, which is also unique to Israel, in which only Palestinians will be prosecuted and subjected to the death penalty by default.

The attempt to “moderate” the amendment by stating that the death penalty is not mandatory in certain cases will also not help. The committee replaced the need to prove intent to harm an Israeli citizen or resident with the need to prove intent to “negate the existence of the State of Israel,” and thus exempted Jewish terrorism – and left the racist discrimination intact.

In addition, the procedural clauses that could likely lead to a mistaken conviction remain: A majority of two out of three judges would be enough to impose the death penalty, and a unanimous decision will not be needed. The requirement in the bill that the execution must be carried out within 90 days will expedite its implementation – and there is the horrifying requirement that the punishment be carried out by hanging.

Limor Son Har-Melech of Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party was one of several party members, including Ben-Gvir himself, to sport a noose pin to the Knesset discussion on the death penalty bill in December. Credit: Naama Grynbaum
All of these factors make the law the most extreme in the world, even compared to countries that use the death penalty today. The proposed law is clearly unconstitutional, even in its new version.

No modification will change the fact that the death penalty – according to research and the consistent position for decades of the security services – is not a deterrent and may even be harmful, especially when it comes to terrorists who are already willing to risk their lives. This is an irreversible punishment, which cannot be corrected if there is an error in judgment, and execution brings along with it a disregard for the value of human life.

No softening will save the bill. It must be completely shelved – or it will tarnish the law, disgrace the State of Israel and remove it from the family of civilized nations, almost all of which have abolished the death penalty.

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