The Knesset voted 62-48 on March 30 to pass a bill imposing the death penalty on terrorists convicted of killing Israelis.
The motive behind the bill is to deter first-degree murder and the lopsided exchanges of multiple terrorists convicted of first-degree murder for a a small number of kid- napped Israelis.
For example, Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldiers whom Palestinians kidnapped in 2006 ,was freed in 2011 in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners.
According to Israeli government sources, the 1,027 Palestinian prisoners had been responsible for the deaths of 569 Israelis.
Some of them, upon their release, went on to commit further violent terrorist attacks against Israelis, including murder. One was Yayha Sinwar, who led the Oct. 7 massacre.
In October, 2025, with Hamas’ release of the final 20 living hostages and of eight death hostages in Gaza, Israel released 2,058 Palestinian security prisoners, some of whom were convicted of first-degree murder.
The new law is a dramatic departure for Israel, which up until now allowed for the death penalty only for ex-Nazis or Israelis convicted of treason.
The death penalty has only been imposed twice in Israel’s history.
One was Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust. The other time was for an army officer during the 1948 War of Independence, who was accused of espionage. He was later exonerated.
The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy and the UK decried the bill.
Limor Son Har-Melech, a member of the Knesset from the Otzma Yehudit Party who sponsored the bill, stated that that the passage of the “historic law” means that there will be “no more cycle of murder, imprisonment and release in deals, but a clear determination: Whoever chooses to murder Jews because they are Jews forfeits their right to live.”
“This is a message of justice, deterrence and national responsibility,” she stated. The bill ensures that “evil will not return to strike.”
Son Har-Melech, who was badly hurt and whose husband was murdered in a Palestinian terror attack in 2003, stated that the passage of the bill was a “personal and special moment, precisely from my place as a woman who paid the price of terror, as one who lost what was most precious to her of all, my husband Shuli, may G-d avenge his blood.”
Son Har-Melech and her husband was driving near Ramallah when five Palestinian gunmen fired on their car, which rolled over. Her husband was skilled instantly. He was a medic and ambulance drive.
She was seven months pregnant, in critical condition, and gave birth via Caesarian prematurely a few hours later.
“I took it upon myself to do everything to prevent the next murder, and today we took an important step in that direction,” she stated.
“This is a day when the State of Israel chose life.
“Jewish blood is not forfeit.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted for the bill in person.
The “Death Penalty for Terrorists Bill” mandates:
“A resident of the area, except for an Israeli citizen or Israel resident, who intentionally caused the death of a person in an act of terrorism, shall be imposed with the death penalty, unless the military court finds that special circumstances exist under which it is appropriate to impose a sentence of life imprisonment.”
“Additionally, the authority of a military court to impose this sentence shall not be conditioned on a request by the prosecution, on a unanimous decision of the panel, or on the rank of the judges not being lower than lieutenant colonel.
“Furthermore, the commander of IDF forces in the area shall not have the authority to pardon, mitigate or commute a death sentence imposed for this offense.”
Opponents of the bill in the Knesset objected, among other things, to the exception to its death penalty requirement “for an Israeli citizen or Israel resident.” A death penalty, if it is to be imposed at all, should not distinguish between Israelis and Arabs, they say.
Proponents say that only Palestinian terrorists commit murder with the intent of denying Israel’s right to exist.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, a common critic of Israel, said:
“Israel must immediately repeal the discriminatory death penalty law passed today by the Knesset, as it contravenes Israel’s obligations under international law.”
“The United Nations opposes the death penalty under all circumstances. The implementation of this new law would violate international law’s prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment,” it said.
“Additionally, this law further entrenches Israel’s violation of the prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid as it will exclusively apply to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Israel, who are often convicted after unfair trials.”
Stated Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, who supported the legislation, said:
“From now on, every [Arab] mother in Judea and Samaria will know that if her son goes out to murder, his sentence is the gallows.
“I say to the people of the European Union, who have applied pressure and threatened the State of Israel, we are in our country with our sovereignty and will protect our citizens.”