In spite of a strong international backlash, Israeli legislators yesterday voted 62-48 in favour of a bill promoted by the Israeli far-right which revives the death penalty in Israel for the first time in decades.

The law requires Israeli military courts in occupied Palestine to impose the death penalty by hanging on those convicted of murder under circumstances of terror committed with the intention of “denying the existence of the State of Israel”.

Israeli civilian courts will have the option of imposing either the death penalty or life imprisonment where the same conditions are met.

Minutes after the law was approved in the Knesset, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court seeking its repeal.

In a statement, ACRI said the new law is “a cruel legislative amendment that creates a dual and discriminatory legal system based on ethnicity, deepening racial segregation”.

“The military courts have a harsher system intended only for Palestinians, in which the death penalty is the default, conviction is by a simple majority (as opposed to by a unanimous panel of judges), and there is no right to a pardon; compare with the more lenient arrangement in civilian courts in Israel, where Jews are tried (even if they live in the West Bank),” it said.

It also said the Knesset was “not authorised to legislate directly for the West Bank” and that this “constitutes ‘de facto’ annexation, which is against international law”, in addition to breaching other international conventions binding on Israel.

ACRI continued: “This abominable and repugnant law causes irreversible harm to the right to life, the right to dignity, the right to due process, and the right to equality. This is especially true given the short timeframe (90 days) for carrying out the sentence, which prevents the correction of wrongful convictions.  

“There is nothing that justifies the existence of this law. The supposed factual basis for the need for the death penalty is flawed, as there is no proof that the death penalty deters terrorism or ideological attackers.

“In addition, the law is incompatible with Israel’s values as a democracy. Indeed, extensive comparative legal data demonstrate a clear global trend toward abolishing the death penalty, which today is primarily associated with authoritarian regimes.

“The ultimate purpose of the law is vengeance and racism rather than an actual fact-based or security need.”