On March 30, 2026, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, wearing a golden noose-shaped pin, popped a bottle of champagne as he toasted the Israeli Knesset's enactment of a bill making the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians convicted of "terrorist attacks," under the pretext of "negating the existence of the State of Israel."

The bill — which passed with 62 votes in favor, 47 against, and one absence — mandates execution by hanging to be carried out within 90 days of a prisoner's conviction in Israel's military courts. Israeli human rights group B'Tselem points out that these courts have a 96 percent conviction rate for Palestinians. Conversely, Israeli Jews convicted of the same offenses against Palestinians are tried in civil courts, facing prison sentences at most — or even acquittal.

Enshrining this difference in sentencing into law is yet another form of national ethnic discrimination, where two populations — occupier and occupied — on the same land are subjected to starkly different judicial systems: civil and military. This constitutes a flagrant violation of Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which asserts that "all are equal before the law."

Mohammad Diab, a foremost Gazan political expert, writer, and lecturer at the journalism department of Al-Quds Open University, further emphasizes that it is illegal for an occupying power to impose new domestic laws on occupied territories under international law.

However, this legislation is not just a symptom of the latest neck-breaking escalations unfolding in Palestine. Rather, it is inherited within a longstanding legal framework dating back to the British Mandate for Palestine.

Mohammad Diab, a foremost Gazan political expert, writer, and lecturer at the journalism department of Al-Quds Open University, further emphasizes that it is illegal for an occupying power to impose new domestic laws on occupied territories under international law.

However, this legislation is not just a symptom of the latest neck-breaking escalations unfolding in Palestine. Rather, it is inherited within a longstanding legal framework dating back to the British Mandate for Palestine.

In Israel, the last execution carried out for a non-Palestinian was back in 1962. Meanwhile, the killing of Palestinians has never ceased. Now, it has been institutionalized.

Beyond the thousands of lives claimed during two years of genocide, more than 9,000 Palestinians have been arrested by Israel since 2023. They have experienced harrowing torture; solitary confinement; sexual abuse; denial of blankets, food, and potable water; and the neglect of appropriate medical care in Israel's notorious prisons. At least 88 detainees have passed away as a result.