Notes on the Knesset’s approval of the death penalty for Palestinians

The Israeli parliament (the Knesset) has approved amendments to the penal code that have triggered a broad wave of criticism, as they directly target Palestinians by introducing the death penalty in a legal framework designed to facilitate both its imposition and execution. The law applies to Palestinians across all legal classifications: citizens within the Green Line, residents of Jerusalem subject to civil law, and inhabitants of the territories occupied in 1967 who fall under military law. This amendment must be understood as part of a longer continuum of policy pursued by an occupying government intent on entrenching permanent control over Palestinian land. It operates within a legal architecture that differentiates between Palestinians in the occupied territories and Israeli settlers, as […]