death penalty

An Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party conference in the southern city of Netivot, Feburary 16, 2026. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

Israel’s death penalty drive enters next stage with Oct. 7 military tribunal

Lawmakers voted 93-0 to create a special court to try accused Palestinian perpetrators, designed to subvert due process and lead to mass executions.

By Sari Bashi May 21, 2026

A public execution in Fayyam Square, Shiraz, November 21, 2018. (Students' News Agency)

What Israelis can learn from the nightmares of an Iranian hangman

As Israel embraces the death penalty, government ministers can look to what they call the ‘Iranian terror regime’ for inspiration — and caution.

By Orly Noy April 9, 2026

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir during the vote to pass the death penalty law in the Knesset, in Jerusalem, March 30, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

‘They already shoot us for no reason. Now they have a death penalty’

Under Israel's new law, only Palestinians will face capital punishment. Up next is a tribunal to execute those convicted of participating in the Oct. 7 attacks.

By Jared Hillel March 31, 2026

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Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits a prison in central Israel, where suspected Hamas and Hezbollah militants are held, January 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Why the death penalty would cement the Israeli radical right’s ascendancy

A bill to legalize the execution of Palestinians represents an effort to institutionalize revenge and erase all remaining limits on state violence.

By Ron Dudai November 26, 2025

The Israeli and the American flags are screened on the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, on October 28, 2018, in solidarity with the victims who were killed in a mass shooting at Pittsburgh synagogue. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Death penalty for Pittsburgh terrorist is wrong

Sentencing Robert Bowers to death isn’t likely to honor the victims. What’s worse, it might build up the case for capital punishment for terrorists in Israel. Prosecutors are reportedly planning to seek the death penalty for Robert Bowers, suspected of murdering 11 Jews in a mass shooting attack as they celebrated a bris at their…

By Dahlia Scheindlin November 2, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekly cabinet meeting, Jerusalem, June 25, 2017. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/Flash90)

As Netanyahu scandals deepen, the more extreme his policies get

From outlawing foreign funding for human rights NGOs to reviving the death penalty (for Palestinians), to population transfer and more, Benjamin Netanyahu is going a little wild. It probably isn’t unrelated to the multiple police investigations into him and his friends. Benjamin Netanyahu has a few things in common with Donald Trump. The two men…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man August 1, 2017

Israeli policemen search a Palestinian man at Damascus gate, in Jerusalem's old city, October 18, 2015. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

There is no reason to trust Israel’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy

While the government claims to take a ‘zero tolerance’ stance on terrorism — whether Palestinian or Jewish — the reality on the ground paints a very different picture. The phrase “zero tolerance” is doing brisk business in Israel-Palestine. Public figures like to talk tough in violent times and 2015 has been a particularly bloody year…

By Natasha Soffer-Roth November 3, 2015

Police investigators stand around the body of a Palestinian man who ran over a group of Israeli pedestrians in Jerusalem, November 5, 2014. Police shot and killed the man shortly after the attack. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

A death penalty for terrorists would be terrible for Israel

Not only would the death penalty have no deterrent effect on bona fide terrorists. It’s just plain wrong. Update: On Sunday afternoon, Haaretz reports that the Prime Minister postponed the ministerial debate on the death penalty bill for three months – most likely a delaying tactic. He also instructed the formation of a government committee…

By Dahlia Scheindlin July 12, 2015

Death chamber and electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in 1923. (photo: Everett Collection/Shutterstock.com)

The death penalty is making a comeback in Israel

By sentencing Palestinians convicted of murder to death, the Israeli Right will only bring the mutual cruelty between Jews and Palestinians to another level. No one really wants to look back and learn anything from history. Every colonial regime convinces itself at some point to raise the level of brutality in order to force the natives…

By Noam Sheizaf July 9, 2015