UN experts condemn Israel's death penalty law against Palestinians, urge immediate repeal

UN experts on Thursday condemned a new Israeli law enabling the death penalty against Palestinians, warning it constitutes a discriminatory system that violates international human rights law.

"Israel's new law, effectively providing for the death penalty solely against Palestinians, constitutes a discriminatory regime of capital punishment and manifestly violates Israel's obligations under international human rights law," the experts said in a statement.

"We condemn the Knesset's adoption of this law and call for its immediate repeal," they said. "This law marks a grave escalation in Israel's discriminatory oppression of Palestinians."

The statement was signed by UN special rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions, the occupied Palestinian territory, counterterrorism and human rights, and violence against women and girls.

They warned that a death penalty applied in a discriminatory manner is incompatible with the rights to life and equality before the law.

The experts also raised concerns about provisions allowing military trials of civilians and execution by hanging, saying such measures are inconsistent with the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

"By reintroducing capital punishment in a system that targets solely Palestinians … this law institutionalizes arbitrary and discriminatory deprivation of life," they said.

They noted that the law reinforces a dual legal system in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians are subject to military courts and reduced due process protections, unlike Israeli occupiers.

"A law that effectively singles out Palestinians for execution conveys that Palestinian lives are less worthy of legal protection," the experts said.

They urged Israel to repeal the law and called on its Supreme Court to invalidate the legislation, warning it could lead to "irreversible harm" and further entrench discrimination.