International law requires that death sen­tences must be reserved only for the most seri­ous offens­es, fol­low fair pro­ceed­ings, and allow for the con­sid­er­a­tion of par­don or com­mu­ta­tion. The law man­dates death by hang­ing for offens­es clas­si­fied as ​“ter­ror­ism relat­ed” — and as writ­ten, applies exclu­sive­ly to Palestinians. “Israeli offi­cials argue that impos­ing the death penal­ty is about secu­ri­ty, but in real­i­ty, it entrench­es dis­crim­i­na­tion and a two-tiered sys­tem of jus­tice, both hall­marks of apartheid. The death penal­ty is irre­versible and cru­el. The coun­try has exe­cut­ed just two peo­ple since its for­ma­tion in 1948 but has main­tained the death penal­ty for geno­cide and wartime espi­onage.

Source: International New York Times April 06, 2026 21:32 UTC