The Israeli parliament’s new death penalty legislation, adopted on 30th March 2026, is discriminatory by design, and applicable primarily, if not exclusively, to Palestinians in practice.

This is yet another grave and dangerous escalation of the Israeli government’s systematic assault on Palestinian life and rights, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territory. 

As humanitarian, human rights, and environmental justice organisations in the UK, working in and on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, we urge the UK government to do everything in its power to push for the repeal of this discriminatory law and for the State of Israel to comply with international law.

The bill imposes the death penalty within the military court system in the occupied Palestinian territory, with Israeli citizens and residents explicitly excluded. While Israeli settlers are tried in civilian courts, military jurisdiction applies exclusively to Palestinians. These military courts have a conviction rate of approximately 96%, and the use of torture to extract so-called “confessions” has been meticulously documented through UN Human Rights Council processes and by Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations. This undermines the most basic due process and fair trial protections for Palestinians.

This discriminatory bill effectively imposes a quasi-mandatory death penalty on people who may have been tortured into so-called “confessions” or tried without legal representation, and orders their rapid execution within 90 days. This legislation is incompatible with key aspects of international law, which specify that any application of the death penalty must be non-discriminatory, follow a fair legal process, and guarantee the right to appeal and to seek pardon.

We are also particularly alarmed by the potential implications for children, as this legislation does not include safeguards excluding children from its application. Israel is one of the few countries in the world that systematically prosecutes children in military courts, and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has highlighted Israeli authorities’ “repeated denial of its legal obligations” and “complete disregard of [the Committee’s] recommendations…in relation to the arrest and detention of Palestinian children”.

Even before October 2023, there were reports of Palestinian children in detention being beaten, starved, exposed to cold, denied medical care, and subjected to solitary confinement and sexual abuse. Child detention has risen dramatically since October 2023, and more children are being held in administrative detention without charge or trial. At the same time, Israeli authorities continue to restrict access for legal representatives and independent monitors, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, in violation of their legal obligations.

This bill is just one component of a systematic assault on Palestinian life and state sovereignty in the occupied Palestinian territory, from the genocidal campaign in Gaza to state-backed settler violence against Palestinian civilians, and illegal settlement expansion and attacks on Palestinian land, property, and essential services. The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) July 2024 advisory opinion found that the Israeli government’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory violate Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid. It also outlined all states’ legal obligations not to aid or assist the maintenance of the illegal presence of the Israeli government and settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory, and to ensure the State of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law.

Words of condemnation are insufficient to meet the United Kingdom’s obligations to implement the ICJ advisory opinion, and diplomatic engagement by the UK and its international partners has failed to address Israeli authorities’ violations of international law or pressure them to change course.

The United Kingdom has long positioned itself as a global leader in the abolition of the death penalty. It cannot credibly do so while failing to adequately respond when an ally implements discriminatory death penalty legislation that is in clear violation of international law. This is capital punishment selectively applied to Palestinians in a practical sense, within a two-tier legal framework where discrimination, arbitrary detention, torture, and coerced “confessions” are repeatedly and credibly documented. While we acknowledge the UK government’s joint statement of concern, this response falls far short of what the situation demands.

One month has passed since this legislation was adopted, and despite widespread international condemnation, there is no indication that Israeli authorities intend to repeal this discriminatory law. Petitions to the Israeli Supreme Court could face significant obstacles, while the Israeli parliament is advancing further legislation expanding the death penalty and the Israeli Prison Service has reportedly begun logistical preparations for carrying out executions. The window for preventing the implementation of this irreversible, discriminatory death penalty law is rapidly closing. We call on the UK government to take the following steps:

1. Suspend the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement by invoking Israel’s material breach of its human rights clause – an essential element of this agreement – until widespread and systematic violations of international law are brought to an end. The UK paused negotiations on the next phase of the trade agreement in May 2025, citing the “Israeli government’s egregious actions and rhetoric”, yet the current agreement remains in force and there have been no tangible consequences for the Israeli government’s escalating assault on Palestinian life and rights.
2. Urgently implement the ICJ’s July 2024 advisory opinion and end the UK’s complicity in the Israeli government’s unlawful occupation and violations of international law. The UK must take steps to identify and prevent all forms of support – financial, commercial, trade, diplomatic, and military – that aid or assist in the maintenance of Israel’s unlawful occupation, including by banning trade with, and investment in, illegal settlements.
3. Actively support Palestinian and Israeli civil society organisations, whose monitoring, documentation, and advocacy are essential to the protection of human rights.

The UK’s claim to be upholding international law is clearly undermined by choosing to remain a preferential trading partner of a government that repeatedly and systematically violates it. We urge the UK Government to act – urgently, concretely, and in accordance with its own stated values as well as its legal obligations.

Signatories 

• ActionAid UK
• Amos Trust
• Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU)
• Embrace the Middle East
• Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
• Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
• Human Rights Watch
• Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
• Oxfam UK
• Sabeel-Kairos UK
• War on Want