The Global Alliance for Palestine (GAFP) unequivocally condemns the Israeli Knesset’s
passage of legislation authorising the death penalty for Palestinians. Passed by 62
votes to 48, this law is the formal, legal codification of state-sanctioned execution
against a captive people under a brutal colonial occupation.
Championed by far-right Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – a man previously convicted of
racist incitement and support for a terrorist organisation – this law is a weapon of
state terror. While Israel abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1954, it
has now resurrected it exclusively to target Palestinians.
A System of Death and Disappearance
This law does not represent a new direction; it formalises the lethal violence already
occurring in the shadows. Since October 2023, more than 100 Palestinian detainees
have already died in Israeli custody, with dozens more victims of enforced
disappearance.
Currently, over 9,300 Palestinians are held as hostages of this apartheid regime,
including 350 children.
Under this law:
• Death by hanging is now a mandatory sentence with no possibility of pardon.
• Sentences will be issued through military courts with a 96% conviction rate,
where confessions are extracted under duress and torture.
• The regime has mandated a 90-day window to carry out executions once a
sentence is passed.
• This law applies exclusively to Palestinians in the West Bank; it does not apply
to Israeli settlers who commit violence on the same land.
Our Demands
The GAFP demands that world governments stop hiding behind ‘concern’ and take
tangible action against this barbaric law.
We call for:
• The total and immediate rescinding of this discriminatory execution law.
• The immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners, including the 350
children currently held.
• Comprehensive sanctions and an immediate arms embargo against the Israeli
regime.
• Prosecution for every Palestinian death in Israeli captivity
As an alliance of solidarity organisations, we call upon movements, solidarity groups,
and people of conscience worldwide to organise and escalate their resistance to this
law through the following actions:
1. Organise local protests and occupy public spaces to demand an end to state
sanctioned executions and the release of all hostages.
2. Issue formal statements of rejection through organisational channels
3. Launch coordinated social media campaigns using unified hashtags to expose
the 96% conviction rate of the military courts and the discriminatory nature of
the law.
4. Pressure local representatives to support a full arms embargo and to publicly
denounce the Knesset’s decision.
We stand in total solidarity with Palestinian hostages, their families, and all those
resisting colonial occupation. History will not forgive those who looked away.
