Several Muslim-majority countries have strongly condemned a newly passed Israeli law reintroducing the death penalty for terrorism-related offenses, warning it could further escalate tensions in the region.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates condemned what they described as the ”imposition of the death penalty in the occupied West Bank”.
The ministers expressed concern over what they called Israel’s ”increasingly discriminatory and escalating practices”, arguing that such measures reinforce an apartheid-like system.
Its effective use against Palestinians, according to a joint statement reported on Thursday by the Saudi Press Agency, undermined the fundamental rights of the country in the occupied territories.
Israel’s parliament approved the controversial bill earlier this week.
The legislation reinstates capital punishment for individuals convicted of murder classified as an act of terrorism.
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Critics argue that the law disproportionately targets Palestinians, as it is expected to be applied primarily in military courts operating in the occupied territories.
Under the new provisions, Palestinians convicted of terrorism-related murder could face a mandatory death sentence, to be carried out within 90 days of conviction.
Executions will be conducted by hanging.
In Israel’s civilian courts, judges will retain discretion, allowing either the death penalty or life imprisonment for those convicted of murder with a terrorism motive aimed at undermining the state.
The bill was introduced by the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, led by National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Human rights groups have strongly opposed the legislation.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel announced it has filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to block the law.
It described it as “an extreme and dangerous escalation” in what it views as broader efforts undermining human rights protections.
The law has been criticized by the United Nations and European Union, while the United States came out in support of “Israel’s sovereign right to determine its own laws”.
Almost all of the countries which signed the statement enforce the death penalty at home, including Saudi Arabia which executed 356 people alone in 2025.
Under the new law, Palestinians in the West Bank convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as “terrorism” will face the death penalty as a default sentence.
Because Palestinians in the territory are automatically tried in Israeli military courts, the measure effectively creates a separate and harsher legal track.
In Israeli civilian courts, the law allows for either death or life imprisonment for those convicted of killing with intent to harm the state.
Israel has applied the death penalty only twice: in 1948, shortly after the state’s founding, against a military captain accused of high treason, and then in 1962, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was hanged.
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