Israel’s far-right party introduces a bill to impose the death penalty for killing Israelis, drawing criticism for its discriminatory treatment of Arab citizens.
Death Penalty Bill Introduced in Knesset
In October 2025, a ceasefire was established in the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian authorities, Israel violated it more than 1,600 times in less than half a year. Since autumn, there has been less reporting on Israel and Palestine, and when there is, it’s in the context of Trump’s development plans. However, attention should be paid to what happened in the Knesset during this period. In parliamentary proceedings, a bill written by the far-right party Jewish Power, led by Itamar Ben Gvir, to introduce the death penalty was found.
“For killing an Israeli – the death penalty,” states the bill. Fantasies about simply murdering Palestinian prisoners have long accompanied Itamar Ben Gvir. In the spring of 2024, much was said about the horrific conditions in Israeli prisons holding Palestinians. Ben Gvir, when announcing the construction of new prisons, added that a better “solution to prison overcrowding” would be “the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners.”
Symbolic Gestures and Discriminatory Language
To support their bill, members of the Jewish Power party began wearing golden nooses on their lapels – similar in shape to the yellow ribbons often worn as symbols of support for Israel. In December, Ben Gvir tweeted about this.
In Ben Gvir’s language – who was himself convicted in Israel in his youth for supporting a Zionist terrorist organization – “terrorists” simply means “Palestinians.” The question of which land Ben Gvir considers “his” naturally comes to mind. But one doesn’t need to reach for the minister’s tweets – it’s enough to read the text of the bill, which directly differentiates between citizens of Jewish and Arab origin. The United Nations team of special rapporteurs left no doubt about the bill in their statement.
Double Standards in Justice?
What if someone kills a Palestinian? In the spring of 2025, an Israeli settler on the West Bank shot and killed Palestinian Odeh Hathaileen, who had previously worked on the film “No Other Land.” The settler, Yinon Levi, was detained by police and placed under house arrest for a few days – only three days. In February of this year, “Times of Israel” reported that Levi would ultimately be charged with involuntary manslaughter. The maximum sentence he faces is 12 years in prison. This concerns what is likely the most high-profile crime to have occurred on the West Bank in recent years. The film “No Other Land” received an Oscar a few months earlier. Half the world heard about the murder of its co-creator.
Had Ben Gvir’s law been in effect at the time of this murder, the perpetrator would not have had to fear the noose – after all, he murdered a Palestinian, thus not hindering the “rebirth of the Jewish nation.” But for Israeli prosecutors, a charge of involuntary manslaughter is still considerable. The actions of law enforcement against Israelis settling in the West Bank and attempting to expel Palestinians are continuously monitored by Yesh Din – an Israeli human rights organization. A handful of data from 2005-2025.
Escalating Violence and Settler Attacks
In the near future, Yesh Din will have no shortage of material for further analysis. Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians continue to intensify. According to OCHA data (one of the UN’s offices), in 2025, a record 37,000 Palestinians had to leave their homes on the West Bank, harassed by settlers and IDF maneuvers.
It is unknown whether Ben Gvir’s bill will come into force. It seems that for now, the project is stuck in parliamentary freezer. But the facts are as follows: the first reading in the Israeli parliament passed a bill that depends on ethnic origin to determine whether one can be legally hanged. It was brought to the table by a minister, head of one of the parties forming the ruling coalition. This is explicit confirmation of what human rights organizations said even before the invasion of Gaza. Apartheid is not a system that appeared in the world only once in South Africa and is no longer anywhere. It is thriving in Israel.