Palestinian Authority calls the bill a ‘war crime’ against Palestinians, says it breaches the Fourth Geneva Convention. Published On 30 Mar 202630 Mar 2026Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has passed a controversial bill that will instruct military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in acts of “terror”, but will not impose the same penalty on Jewish Israelis convicted of kiling Palestinians.The law, which enters into effect within 30 days, was approved on Monday in the 120-seat Knesset by 62 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with 48 voting against it and one abstention.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listIts passage marks a major victory for Israel’s far right, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir having pushed for its enactment as one of the main conditions of his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party’s coalition agreement with Netanyahu.The Palestinian Authority called the bill “a war crime against the Palestinian people”, saying that it breached the Fourth Geneva Convention, “particularly the protections it guarantees for individuals and the safeguards for fair trials”.The new law, introduced as Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continues, instructs military courts trying only West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens, to impose the draconian sentence for lethal attacks on Israelis.Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for Democratic Values and Institutions, told the Associated Press that “Jews will not be indicted under this law”.Under international law, he noted, Israel’s parliament should not be legislating in the West Bank, which is not sovereign Israeli territory in spite of the best efforts of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition to annex the territory to Israel. Advertisement The lawyer for the Knesset’s National Security Committee also raised several concerns during earlier deliberations, noting that it did not allow clemency, contradicting international conventions.Minutes after the law was passed, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said it had filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court to challenge it, des …
