On Monday, lawmakers of the occupying regime advanced the draft legislation by 39 votes to 16, clearing its first hurdle before being sent to the Knesset’s national security committee for final approval.
Far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a key architect of the regime’s violent policies, hailed the bill as “critical to the security” of the regime, openly celebrating the legalization of execution against Palestinians.
In a separate act of censorship, the Knesset also advanced the so-called “Al Jazeera Law,” granting the regime sweeping powers to shut down foreign media outlets without any judicial oversight.
According to Haaretz, that measure passed its first reading by 50 votes to 41.
The regime has already banned Al Jazeera, stormed its offices, and murdered hundreds of journalists in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in an attempt to conceal its atrocities and silence documentation of war crimes.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the death penalty bill as a war crime, calling it proof of the regime’s deepening fascism and criminality.
It said both the Israeli judiciary and Knesset operate as instruments of oppression designed to legitimize the regime’s systematic crimes and ensure absolute impunity.
The ministry added that the measure extends Israel’s genocidal policy from Gaza to the occupied West Bank, targeting Palestinian detainees and their families.
Resistance movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad also denounced the bill.
Hamas said it exposes the “ugly and fascist nature” of the Israeli regime, while Islamic Jihad warned it paves the way for mass executions of Palestinians under occupation.
Under the proposed law, Israeli judges could impose the death penalty on Palestinians accused of killing Israelis on so-called “nationalistic grounds,” while exempting Israelis who murder Palestinians under identical circumstances — a glaring reflection of the regime’s entrenched apartheid system.
Originally introduced by far-right Israeli factions before the regime’s genocidal onslaught on Gaza in October 2023, the bill has reemerged with renewed political support as Israel intensifies its campaign of annihilation across occupied Palestinian territories.