The Issue: A War Crime in the Making

A War Crime in the Making on March 30, 2026, the Israeli Knesset passed the "Death Penalty for Terrorists-Law."

This legislation is not a neutral security measure; it is a racially targeted penal code that creates two separate sets of laws based on ethnicity. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has formally stated that the application of this law to residents of the occupied Palestinian territory "would constitute a war crime."

The Facts
We, the undersigned, call for the immediate repeal of this legislation based on the following documented facts.

The Facts: Institutionalized Discrimination

The law is designed to exempt Israelis from the same punishment, even when committing the same acts.

Exemption for Israelis: The law specifically targets those whose actions are deemed to "negate the existence of the State of Israel" or are driven by "hostility against the Jewish people." By using this specific ethno-nationalist language, the law ensures that Jewish-Israeli settlers who commit nationalistic killings against Palestinians are exempt from the death penalty, as their actions are not legally framed as "negating the State."

A Two-Tiered Justice System: In the West Bank, Palestinians are tried in military courts where a death sentence can now be passed by a simple majority of judges, rather than the unanimous decision usually required for execution in democratic systems. Israeli citizens in the same territory remain under the jurisdiction of civil courts with far higher legal safeguards. 

No Right to Appeal: The 2026 law mandates that executions by hanging be carried out within 90 days of sentencing. It effectively strips away the right to a meaningful appeal and removes the possibility of clemency or presidential pardon, making any judicial error irreversible.

Children at Risk:

Perhaps most harrowing is that the law contains no age exemption.

Criminal Responsibility at 12: Under the Israeli military court system (Order 1651), the age of criminal responsibility is 12 years old. Because the new law does not specify a minimum age for execution, Palestinian children as young as 12, who are already tried in military courts at a 96% conviction rate, are now legally subject to the death penalty.

Coerced Confessions: Human rights organizations (DCIP and B'Tselem) have documented that Palestinian minors are routinely interrogated without parents or lawyers present and are often forced to sign confessions in Hebrew, a language they cannot read. Under this new law, such a coerced confession could lead to the execution of a child.

Violation of International Law: UN experts and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have noted that such measures entrench a system of racial segregation and apartheid. International humanitarian law (including the Fourth Geneva Convention) strictly limits the use of the death penalty in occupied territories.

Our Demand

We call upon the international community to recognize this law as an act of institutionalized state violence and a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

We demand:

1. The immediate repeal of the "Death Penalty for Terrorists Law" (2026).

2. An immediate halt to the trial of Palestinian children in military courts.

3. The intervention of the ICC and UN to hold the authors of this discriminatory legislation accountable for inciting and codifying war crimes.