Geneva / Occupied Jerusalem — April 1, 2026 — Women Journalists Without Chains expresses its profound alarm and unequivocal condemnation of the dangerous trajectory taken by the Israeli authorities following the Knesset’s final approval,

on 30 March 2026, of legislation authorizing the execution of Palestinian detainees. This measure is not a routine legal amendment; it constitutes a “blueprint for physical elimination” cloaked in defective legal reasoning and designed to facilitate the erasure of Palestinian presence under the pretext of “counter‑terrorism.”

The Knesset adopted the law by a vote of 62 to 48, enabling courts to impose the death penalty by hanging on individuals accused of causing the death of an Israeli citizen on grounds of “denial of the existence of the State of Israel” or “terrorist motives.” The legislation mandates its automatic application in military courts in the occupied West Bank and extends its use to civil courts inside Israel and occupied Jerusalem—while explicitly shielding settlers and Israeli citizens who commit comparable acts against Palestinians.

The law further stipulates that condemned prisoners will be held in total underground solitary confinement, and that executions will be carried out by a masked prison officer to guarantee anonymity and impunity. According to a Knesset member, the law will apply to all new cases, including an estimated 250–300 Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem currently awaiting trial before military courts.

Ms. Tawakkol Karman, President of Women Journalists Without Chains and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, stated: “The Israeli Knesset’s approval of this expanded death penalty law targeting Palestinian prisoners is not merely a regression in human rights protections; it is an official proclamation of the institutionalization of premeditated killing under a discriminatory legal façade.”

She added: “Through this legislation, Israel has openly renounced even the minimal obligations incumbent upon an occupying power under international humanitarian law. It has shifted from the realm of field violations to the codification of judicial apartheid. Enacting a law that differentiates between perpetrators based on national or political identity constitutes a blatant breach of the principle of equality before the law and strikes at the core of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

Grave Breach of International Law

Women Journalists Without Chains affirms that this legislation constitutes a profound violation of peremptory norms of international law, effectively stripping the judiciary of any semblance of independence and transforming it into an enforcement arm for the Israeli government’s increasingly authoritarian policies. The law directly contravenes the right to life under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by establishing a discriminatory, two‑tiered system in which the death penalty is applied exclusively to Palestinians. Such differential treatment renders the deprivation of life inherently arbitrary—an act prohibited under international human rights law.

The legislation further violates fair trial guarantees enshrined in Article 14 of the ICCPR. It empowers military courts—bodies that structurally lack independence and impartiality—to issue death sentences by simple majority, without requiring judicial unanimity, and while denying defendants the right to appeal or seek clemency. These provisions amount to a codified form of judicial assassination.

In addition, the law stands in clear breach of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from enacting substantive changes to the criminal legislation of occupied territory for purposes of oppression. Military courts operating under prolonged occupation lack both the legal authority and moral legitimacy to issue irreversible sentences that extinguish life.

By enacting this legislation, the Israeli government entrenches the crime of apartheid as defined in the 1973 Apartheid Convention. The text of the law explicitly distinguishes between so‑called “Jewish national terrorism” and “Palestinian terrorism,” restricting the death penalty to those accused of denying “the existence of the State of Israel.” This discriminatory categorization provides material evidence of a legal regime that treats Palestinians as inherently inferior before the law.

Women Journalists Without Chains notes that the operational details of the law reflect a logic of retribution rather than justice. The statute mandates execution by hanging within 90 days—extendable to 180 days by political decision—grants absolute immunity to those carrying out executions, and requires that condemned prisoners be held in underground solitary confinement, deprived of family visits. When combined with the widespread use of coerced confessions extracted under torture in military courts, every death sentence issued under this framework constitutes a war crime.

The provision granting “absolute immunity” to executioners violates the foundational principle of accountability and entrenches a culture of impunity, rendering the state directly responsible for unlawful deprivations of life without any internal legal safeguards.

Ms. Karman added: “What horrifies us most is the deliberate dismantling of even the most basic fair trial guarantees. Issuing death sentences through military courts devoid of independence, denying the right to appeal or seek clemency, and making execution an automatic outcome transforms these courts into instruments of political liquidation rather than mechanisms of justice. Under such conditions, carrying out this penalty clearly constitutes an extrajudicial execution under UN standards.”

Demands

In light of these grave violations and the imminent risks posed to Palestinian detainees, Women Journalists Without Chains issues the following urgent demands:

To the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
- Immediately incorporate this legislation into the existing investigation file concerning war crimes and the crime of apartheid.
- Initiate proceedings against the lawmakers, ministers, and officials responsible for advancing and enacting this discriminatory and racist legislation.

To the European Union and States Party to Association Agreements with Israel
- Recognize that continuing “business as usual” with a state that codifies racially discriminatory killing constitutes direct complicity.
- Suspend the EU–Israel Association Agreement without delay.
- Freeze all security, judicial, and law‑enforcement cooperation.
- Activate Article 2 of the Association Agreement, which conditions economic relations on respect for human rights.
- Support the ICC’s efforts to investigate discriminatory legislation that entrenches an apartheid system.

To the United Nations and Special Procedures Mandate Holders
- Convene an emergency session of the Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution demanding the immediate repeal of the law.
- Establish an international monitoring mechanism to ensure the protection and safety of Palestinian prisoners.

To International Federations and Global Institutions
- Impose cultural, academic, and sporting isolation on the Israeli regime, mirroring the measures taken against apartheid South Africa, in response to its adoption of fascistic and racially motivated legislation.

Conclusion

Women Journalists Without Chains stresses that the passage of this law on Land Day (30 March) is a deliberate act of defiance toward the international community and its foundational values. The organization affirms that silence in the face of legalized killing constitutes a profound moral failure, and pledges to pursue—through legal avenues and international human rights mechanisms—every individual involved in transforming the gallows into an instrument of state policy.