Jerusalem: 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.
According to Anadolu Agency, the experts expressed their condemnation of the Knesset's adoption of this law, calling for its immediate repeal. They described the law as a severe escalation in Israel's discriminatory oppression of Palestinians, emphasizing its violation of international legal standards.
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 highlighted that a death penalty applied in a discriminatory manner is incompatible with the rights to life and equality before the law.
Furthermore, the experts raised concerns about provisions allowing military trials of civilians and execution by hanging, pointing out that such measures contradict the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. They emphasized that by reintroducing capital punishment in a system targeting solely Palestinians, the law institutionalizes arbitrary and discriminatory deprivation of life.
The law, according to the experts, reinforces a dual legal system in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians face military courts with reduced due process protections, unlike Israeli settlers. They stressed that a law effectively singling out Palestinians for execution conveys that Palestinian lives are less worthy of legal protection.
In their plea, the experts urged Israel to repeal the law and called on its Supreme Court to invalidate the legislation, warning of potential "irreversible harm" and the further entrenchment of discrimination.