Israel plans retroactive death penalty for Palestinians: A legal facade for genocide

After preliminary discussions in the Knesset, the Israeli prison administration is preparing to implement a law reinstating the death penalty by hanging, exclusively for Palestinians, retroactively targeting prisoners and paving the way for a large-scale massacre of detainees in occupation prisons.

This pursuit of retroactively applying the death penalty exclusively to Palestinians appears to be a deliberate attempt to legitimize policies aimed at the final eradication of the Palestinian people, as Netanyahu’s government seeks to mask the ongoing genocide under the guise of judicial legitimacy.

More clearly, the resort to such a fascist instrument as retroactive punishment reflects an explicit Israeli acknowledgment that the existing legal framework is insufficient to satisfy the desire for vengeance, necessitating a departure from the basic principles of law to target a specific population group. To understand this measure as a continuation of genocide, one must move beyond traditional definitions of mass murder.

Genocide, as Raphael Lemkin described, is a “coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of groups.” It is evident that this legislative endeavor seeks to continue that destruction in a different manner—quietly and without paying symbolic costs.

This legislative approach furthers the ongoing policy of normalizing the dehumanization of Palestinians. When a state deliberates over the logistical aspects of executing a particular group retroactively, it reinforces the notion that these individuals exist outside the bounds of humanity. This method creates a bureaucratic pathway to death by legalizing genocide. It mirrors the “banality of evil” observed in other historical atrocities, where genocide is sanitized through administrative procedures. The ultimate aim is to make the eradication of Palestinians appear as a routine administrative task rather than a horrific crime against humanity.

Furthermore, this measure deepens the apartheid system that entrenches the occupation’s control over Palestinian lives. In a system where a Jewish settler and a Palestinian resident of the same land are subject to entirely different sets of laws, applying the death penalty exclusively to Palestinians represents the ultimate expression of inequality.

In Israel, the death penalty has not been officially applied since the 1960s, although the military and settlers have carried out massacres against tens of thousands of Palestinians since 1948—during the British mandate crackdowns, the Nakba, and the Naksa—continuing through the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of occupied territories in the West Bank. This underscores the devaluation of Palestinian lives, sending a message to the world that no level of punishment is excessive for the indigenous population, and that no blatant violation of due process is considered too extreme when it comes to maintaining the dominance of the occupying power.

Israeli data itself indicates a sharp increase in settler terrorism in the West Bank, with a recent army report estimating a 27% rise in racially motivated crimes in 2025. UN data presents an even grimmer picture, recording approximately 1,420 attacks on Palestinians in 2024—an increase of 16% compared to 2023, the highest level since documentation began in 2006. The data shows that violence by Jewish extremists is not simply a “response” to attacks. For instance, in the first quarter of 2025, attacks against Palestinians rose by about 30% compared to the previous year, despite a 44% decline in Palestinian attacks during the same period. The international community often distinguishes between times of war and times of “peace,” or between military actions and parliamentary decisions, which Israel leverages to avoid criticism. However, legislating the retroactive death penalty is nothing more than a continuation of genocide by other means.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views o Annahar.