The Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) has passed a new lawmaking the death penalty the automatic sentence for Palestinians convicted of killing people in terror attacks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted in favour of the bill, which says people found guilty of the crime in courts in the West Bank will be hanged within 90 days.
Australia is among a group of countries and human rights groups urging the Knesset to abandon the law.
Here’s what you need to know.
Background
Israel abolished the death penalty for standard crimes, such as murder, in 1954.
The Israeli Supreme Court sentenced Nazi official Adolf Eichmann to death in 1961 for genocide and crimes against humanity, for his role in carrying out the Holocaust. Eichmann was hanged in 1962.
The last time an Israeli court sentenced a person to death was a concentration camp guard in 1988. However, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling following new evidence.
New law
In November 2025, a group of Knesset members proposed a bill allowing the death penalty for people convicted over fatal terrorist attacks.
The group was led by members of Otzma Yehudit, a far-right party which is part of the coalition government.
Their bill specifies that in Israeli courts, the death penalty will be an option alongside life in prison. However, in courts in the West Bank, the death penalty will be the default sentence.
No Israelis are tried in these courts, meaning this only applies to Palestinians.
The bill covers attacks deemed to have intended to “negate the existence of the state of Israel”.
Those convicted in courts in the West Bank will be hanged within 90 days.
The bill passed with the support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week.
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National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads Otzma Yehudit,opened a bottle of champagne in the Knesset.
“From now on every mother in [the West Bank] will know that if her child goes out to murder someone, he is doomed to the gallows,” Ben-Gvir said in a post to X.
Local opposition
The Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has filed a petition in the Israeli Supreme Court against the new law.
ACRI called it “incompatible with Israel’s values as a democracy.”
Israeli Democrat Party Member Rabbi Kariv Gilad said he “intend[s] to appeal to the Supreme Court... against this immoral law which contradicts the fundamental values of the State of Israel.”
“Every day that this bill is law in Israel is a stain on our image and values,” Kariv said.
International opposition
On Sunday, Australia issued a joint statement with France, Germany, Italy and the UK saying the bill “undermin[es] Israel’s commitments with regards to democratic principles.”
It called the death penalty an “inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterring effect.” No Australian jurisdiction has had the death penalty since 1985.
Amnesty International said the law is a “public display of cruelty, discrimination and utter contempt for human rights,” calling it “one of the world’s most extreme death penalty laws.”
Iran hangings
Separately, on 19 March, Iranian state news site Tasnim reported the regime had executed three young men allegedly involved in recent civilian protests against the regime.
Health officials estimated 30,000 people were killed in the demonstrations, both civilians and security forces.
The regime alleged the men killed security officers during protests on behalf of the U.S. and Israel.
