In brief
- The law makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the West Bank found guilty of murdering Israelis.
- Australia joined France, Germany, Italy and the UK in expressing concern, as the US said it respected Israel's right to set laws.
Israel's parliament has passed a law making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks.
The move fulfils a pledge by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right allies.
The law would apply to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted in Israeli military courts of carrying out deadly attacks deemed "acts of terrorism".
It would also technically apply to Jewish Israelis, but critics say this is extremely unlikely, as the law stipulates attacks must be aimed at "ending Israel's existence".
The legislation has drawn international criticism of Israel, which is already under scrutiny for increasing violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and its war in Gaza.
Australia opposes death penalty, but US says it respects Israel's 'right'
Responding to the move in a closed-door caucus meeting on Tuesday morning, Foreign Minister Penny Wong told colleagues that the government "opposed the death penalty in all instances".
On Sunday, Australia signed a joint statement expressing concern over the bill, arguing it risks undermining Israel's democratic commitments.
"The death penalty is an inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterring effect," Wong said in the statement also signed by her counterparts in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
"This is why we oppose the death penalty, whatever the circumstances around the world. The rejection of the death penalty is a fundamental value that unites us."
But the United States said on Tuesday (AEDT) it respected Israel's right to set its own laws.
"The United States respects Israel's sovereign right to determine its own laws and penalties for individuals convicted of terrorism," a US state department spokesperson said.
"We trust that any such measures will be carried out with a fair trial and respect for all applicable fair trial guarantees and protections."
The US is the only NATO country that still practices capital punishment. It has long been the key diplomatic and military supporter of Israel.
No right to clemency
The measure includes provisions requiring an execution by hanging within 90 days of sentencing, with some allowance for a delay but no right to clemency. It provides the option of imposing a life imprisonment sentence instead of capital punishment, but only in unspecified "special circumstances".
Israel abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954. The only person executed in Israel after a civilian trial was Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Nazi Holocaust, in 1962.
Military courts in the West Bank can already sentence Palestinian convicts to death, but have not done so.
The measure was promoted by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister who wore noose-shaped lapel pins in the run-up to the vote.
"This is a day of justice for the murdered, a day of deterrence for enemies," Ben-Gvir said in parliament. "Whoever chooses terror chooses death."
Palestinians reject law
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the legislation as a breach of international law and a doomed bid meant to intimidate Palestinians.
"Such laws and measures will not break the will of the Palestinian people or undermine their steadfastness," Abbas' office said in a statement.
"Nor will they deter them from continuing their legitimate struggle for freedom, independence, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital."
Critics say bill is discriminatory
Israel's leading rights groups decried the law as "an act of institutionalised discrimination and racist violence against Palestinians".
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said it filed an appeal against the law with Israel's supreme court.
The law is the latest action by Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition to raise concern among Israel's Western allies, who have also been critical of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
In an effort to head off international backlash, Netanyahu asked for some elements of the legislation to be softened, Israeli media reported. He voted in favour of the bill, which won the backing of 62 of the Knesset's 120 members.
The original bill had mandated the death sentence for non-Israeli citizens convicted in West Bank military courts of deadly terrorist acts. The revised legislation includes the option of life imprisonment.
In Israel's civilian courts, the new legislation mandates either life imprisonment or the death penalty for anyone convicted of "deliberately causing the death of a person with the intent of ending Israel's existence".
Critics of the bill say that language effectively confines those Israelis who can be sentenced to death to members of the country's 20 per cent Arab minority, many of whom identify as Palestinian, and not to Jewish citizens.
A group of UN experts said the bill includes vague definitions of "terrorist", meaning the death penalty could be meted out over "conduct that is not genuinely terrorist".
Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party argues that the death penalty will deter Palestinians from carrying out deadly attacks against Israelis or attempting kidnappings with the aim of affecting swap deals for Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons.
Amnesty International, which tracks countries imposing death penalty laws, says there "is no evidence that the death penalty is any more effective in reducing crime than life imprisonment".
Professionals in Israel's legal establishment argued the bill was unconstitutional.
Global trend on death penalty is toward abolition
Some 54 countries around the world permit the death penalty, including a handful of democracies such as the United States and Japan, according to Amnesty International. The group says the global trend is toward abolition, with 113 countries having outlawed it.
Israeli rights group B'Tselem says military courts in the West Bank, where Palestinians are tried for alleged crimes, have a 96 per cent conviction rate and a history of extracting confessions through torture.
Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and support for the Kach group on the Israeli and US terrorism blacklists, has overseen an overhaul of prisons that has led to allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners.
He made capital punishment for Palestinian militants a main pledge in his 2022 election campaign and since taking office has publicly backed some Israeli soldiers being probed for suspected excessive force against Palestinians.
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