Israeli Volunteers Would Execute Palestinians by Hanging Under New Bill

Israel’s prison authorities have begun preparations for executing Palestinians under a proposed law condemned by Amnesty International and UN experts. 

The preparations include the construction of a “green mile” facility to carry out the hangings, with groups of three volunteer executioners simultaneously pressing a trigger, Israel’s Channel 13 reported.

Two prison rights groups described the death penalty bill as an “unprecedented act of savagery”. 

Meanwhile, eight UN experts last week called on Israel to withdraw the bill, which mandates executions within 90 days of a guilty verdict. 

The bill, which must pass two more readings in the Israeli Knesset to become law, introduces two tracks for the death penalty. 

In the illegally occupied West Bank, Israeli military courts would impose the death penalty for “terrorist” acts that cause someone’s death, even if it was unintentional; while in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, the death penalty would apply under Israeli criminal law, and only for the “intentional killing of Israeli citizens or residents”.

Only Palestinians will be executed, while Israelis convicted of similar offences will face prison sentences.

If passed, the Israeli government intends first to target the law at the elite Hamas military unit that conducted the 7 October 2023 attacks.

Palestinians in Israeli detention camps are subject to systemic torture, including rape, genital mutilation, sleep deprivation, electrocution and beatings. Many are held without charge, while those who are charged are routinely denied fair trials: the conviction rate of Palestinians in Israel’s military courts is over 99%.

The expansion of Israel’s death penalty laws is a long-held dream of several members of its cabinet, notably national security minister and far-right settler Itamar Ben-Gvir. 

The country has never formally abolished capital punishment, though it has only ever meted it out twice: once in 1948, when it executed army officer Meir Tobianski for espionage; and once in 1962, when it hanged Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann.