The death penalty in Israel has existed in law since the state’s founding but was carried out only once in more than seventy years — the 1962 hanging of Adolf Eichmann for Nazi-era crimes. That long restraint ended on March 30, 2026, when the Knesset passed the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law by a vote of 62 to 48, making capital punishment the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of fatal terrorist acts in military courts and expanding its reach in civilian courts.1Knesset. Death Penalty for Terrorists Bill Approved in Final Readings
What the 2026 Law Does
The Death Penalty for Terrorists Law operates differently depending on which court system hears the case. In military courts, which try West Bank residents, death is now the default sentence for anyone who intentionally kills another person in an act classified as terrorism. A military court can impose life imprisonment instead only if it finds “special circumstances” and records its reasons in writing.
Inside Israel and annexed East Jerusalem, civilian courts can now sentence a defendant to death or life imprisonment for intentionally killing another person with the aim of “negating the existence of the State of Israel.” Across both court systems, prosecutors no longer need to request the death penalty for a court to impose it. The expansion also reaches offenses that already carried the death penalty under older statutes.
Two features of the law stand out. A death sentence handed down under it cannot be reduced, commuted, or pardoned. And the sentence must be carried out within 90 days of a final ruling.2OHCHR. Israel’s Discriminatory Death Penalty Law Marks Grave Human Rights Regression Because the West Bank is governed by military orders rather than Israeli civil law directly, the IDF issued an amended security provisions order shortly after the Knesset vote to put the law into effect in military courts there.
A follow-up measure on May 11, 2026 passed 93 to 0 and created a special military tribunal to conduct publicized trials of Palestinians charged in connection with the October 7 attacks. It also codified that military court panels can impose death sentences by majority vote rather than unanimously.
Capital Offenses Already on the Books
Before 2026, Israeli law allowed capital punishment for a narrow set of offenses, though courts almost never imposed it.
The Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law of 1950 prescribes the death penalty for crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed during the Nazi regime.3The Knesset. Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950 A companion statute from the same year, the Crime of Genocide (Prevention and Punishment) Law, carries the death penalty for acts intended to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.4International Committee of the Red Cross. Law No. 31: The Crime of Genocide (Prevention and Punishment) Law, 5710-1950 Prosecutors must prove specific intent to commit genocide, an exceptionally high bar.
Section 97 of the Penal Law of 1977 covers treason, providing the death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone who deliberately acts to impair the state’s sovereignty or to place part of its territory under foreign control.5International Commission of Jurists. Penal Law 5737-1977 Courts have historically chosen life imprisonment instead.
Section 97 of the Military Justice Law of 1955 provides a separate track for soldiers who deliberately aid an enemy or harm the defense of the state, with death or life imprisonment on the table.6Knesset. Military Justice Law, 5715-1955 No soldier has been executed under this provision.
The Only Formal Execution: Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann, a senior Nazi official who helped organize the Holocaust, was captured by Israeli intelligence in Argentina in 1960 and tried in Jerusalem under the Nazi Collaborators Law. He was convicted, sentenced to death, and hanged on May 31, 1962. He remains the only person Israel has executed following a formal judicial process.
One earlier case is often mentioned alongside the Eichmann execution. During the 1948 War of Independence, IDF Captain Meir Tobianski was accused of leaking artillery targets to Jordan and executed by firing squad after a battlefield court-martial ordered by the head of military intelligence. A year later he was posthumously exonerated of all charges; the conviction had rested entirely on circumstantial evidence. The case is widely regarded as a miscarriage of justice and helped shape Israeli skepticism toward capital punishment for decades afterward.
How the Old Safeguards Stacked Up
The reason Israel went more than sixty years without an execution lies in the procedural layers that applied to every capital case. Before the new legislation, a capital case had to be heard by a panel of three judges, all holding the rank of lieutenant colonel or above in military courts. A death sentence required the unanimous agreement of all three — one dissenting vote blocked it. The prosecution had to specifically request the death penalty. Appellate review was automatic, regardless of whether the defendant appealed. And the President of Israel retained the constitutional power to commute the sentence.
Any one of those steps could prevent an execution. Together they created a system where the death penalty existed in theory but almost never in practice.
What the 2026 Law Stripped Away
For military court cases under the new terrorism statute, the unanimity requirement is gone. The rank requirement for judges is gone. The prosecution no longer needs to request the sentence. The right to presidential clemency is gone. And the 90-day execution deadline compresses the entire post-sentencing process, including any appeals, into three months. Critics argue the timeline makes meaningful appellate review or correction of wrongful convictions nearly impossible.
For civilian courts, fewer protections were removed. The main change is that prosecutors no longer need to request the death penalty for the court to impose it. The three-judge panel and automatic appellate review remain intact in civilian proceedings, and the 90-day deadline and clemency prohibition apply specifically to sentences handed down under the new terrorism law.
Presidential Clemency and the New Law
The President of Israel’s power to pardon or commute sentences comes from Section 11(b) of Basic Law: The President of the State, which gives the president the power to pardon offenders and to reduce or commute penalties.7CODICES. Basic Law: The President of the State The president’s office reviews trial records and the circumstances of each case.8Office of the President of Israel. Presidential Pardons
That power acted as the final safety valve in the old system. The 2026 law explicitly overrides it for sentences imposed under its provisions, barring any commutation or pardon. For capital cases under the older statutes — the Nazi Collaborators Law, the Genocide Law, or the Penal Law’s treason provision — presidential clemency still technically applies, though none of those laws has produced a death sentence since Eichmann.
Method of Execution
The 2026 law prescribes death by hanging for those sentenced under its provisions. The Israeli Prison Service has reportedly begun preparations, including developing dedicated facilities and training staff. Reports indicate that a team of three guards would simultaneously trigger the mechanism, following a protocol designed to diffuse individual responsibility. As of mid-2026, no execution had been carried out under the new law, and the Prison Service’s preparations remained in early stages.
Legal Challenges and International Response
Israel ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights but has not signed or ratified the Second Optional Protocol, which calls for abolition of the death penalty.9OHCHR. UN Treaty Body Database – Israel Israel has no treaty obligation to abolish capital punishment, though the ICCPR itself requires that retaining countries limit its use to the “most serious crimes” and guarantee full due process.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the 2026 law, pointing to the prohibition on mitigation and the 90-day execution deadline. International legal bodies have raised particular concern about the dual court system, which applies harsher sentencing rules to Palestinians in military courts while Israeli citizens living in the same West Bank territory face civilian courts with stronger procedural protections.
Domestically, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition with the Supreme Court on March 30, 2026, the same day the law passed, seeking its repeal. The petition argues the law creates a discriminatory dual legal system based on ethnicity, that the Knesset lacks authority to legislate directly for the West Bank (where legal authority rests with the military commander), and that the 90-day execution timeline prevents correction of wrongful convictions. The Supreme Court’s ruling on that challenge will determine whether the law survives in its current form.