Israeli police brutally dispersed a protest Tuesday afternoon, March 31, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem for demonstrating against the passage of a law allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners, according to police four people were arrested and two injured as officers cleared demonstrators from outside the parliament building.
Hundreds took part in the protest called by Partnership for Peace, among them several Hadash activists. Video published by Zo Haderekh showed police using foul-smelling water to disperse protesters. During last four weeks, Police and Border Police officers began breaking all demonstrations against the war, occupation and the far-right government.
Israeli police brutally dispersed a protest outside the Knesset in Jerusalem for demonstrating against the passage of a law allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners, Tuesday afternoon, March 31, 2026 (Photo: Haim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Knesset Plenum voted to enact the law on Monday, with 62 votes in favor and 48 against. The law enshrines the death penalty by hanging. It targets Palestinians – both citizens of Israel and residents of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) filed a petition with the Supreme Court demanding the repeal of the “Death Penalty for Terrorists Law”, minutes after it passed its second and third readings in the Knesset. On Tuesday morning, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual, Physicians for Human Rights and Gisha, together with Hadash-Ta’al MKs Aida Touma-Sliman, Ayman Odeh, and Ahmed Tibi, filed a second urgent petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, demanding that the “Death Penalty for Terrorists Law” be declared null and void. The petitioners argue that the law represents a complete negation of the right to life and imposes cruel and inhuman punishment. The petition was prepared and submitted by Dr. Suhad Bishara, Adalah’s Legal Director, and Adalah Attorney Muna Haddad. The Supreme Court decided that the state must respond to the petitions and the requests for an interim injunction by May 24.
The petitioners argue that the law adopts an apartheid-like approach to the fundamental right to life. The law, which adopts the death penalty for those convicted of “intentional causing of death” in the context of terrorism as defined under Israeli law, establishes clear racial separation. In the West Bank, amendments to military orders apply exclusively to the Palestinian population, while the amendment to the Israeli civil law Penal Code conditions the death penalty on intentional acts of murder committed “with the intent to negate the existence of the State.” This formulation is specifically designed to exclude Israeli Jewish perpetrators of similar offenses and to ensure that the law is applied solely against Palestinians.
The petitioners argue also that the law imposes a near-mandatory death penalty (subject only to extremely rare exceptions) on Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank, without permitting any meaningful consideration of the circumstances of the offense or the personal circumstances of the defendant. In doing so, the law strips judges of their independence and discretion, rendering the punishment inherently arbitrary. It further permits death sentences to be imposed by a simple majority in military courts; allows courts to impose the death penalty even where the prosecution has not sought or consented to it; abolishes the authority of the Military Commander to mitigate or commute sentences and eliminates any realistic possibility of pardon; mandates an exceptionally short time frame of 90 days to carry out the death penalty, severely undermining the ability to pursue appeals or retrial; and imposes restrictions on access to legal counsel and family visits for those sentenced to death.
According to its proponents, the purpose of the law is deterrence, however, the petitioners emphasize that no facts were presented to substantiate this claim. On the contrary, most Israel’s security officials who appeared before the relevant Knesset committee rejected the assertion that the death penalty would have any deterrent effect.
Further, academic experts – Prof. Carolyn Hoyle (Professor of Criminology and Director of the Death Penalty Research Unit at the Centre for Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford) and Prof. Ron Dudai (Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ben-Gurion University and Research Associate at the Death Penalty Research Unit at Oxford University) – emphasize, in an expert opinion provided by the petitioners, that there is no clear empirical evidence demonstrating that the death penalty deters crime; in fact, the prevailing consensus among social scientists and legal scholars weighs decisively against any such effect on murder rates. The petitioners further argue that statements made by the law’s initiators and proponents throughout the legislative process reveal that its true primary purpose is punitive—namely, retribution or vengeance—rather than legitimate deterrence.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33334
