On Monday, the Knesset voted the death penalty bill into law, creating a death penalty exclusively for Palestinians who kill Israelis, while exempting Israelis who murder Palestinians from the same penalty. T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights responded by forcefully condemning the bill as racist and discriminatory, undermining the basic principles of due process and equal protection under the law and in defiant opposition to Jewish values.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, said:
“T’ruah strongly opposes the death penalty bill, a sign of Israel’s dangerous slide into violent populism. For decades, Israel has maintained a policy of de facto abolition of capital punishment. This legislation marks a dangerous departure from that norm, authorizing execution by hanging and doing so in a manner that targets Palestinians. The law mandates the use of capital punishment while stripping away discretion and basic safeguards, entrenching unequal punishment in law and undermining the principle of equality that is fundamental to any democratic society. It is already the case that Israelis are tried in civilian courts, while Palestinians in the West Bank are tried by military courts, where the conviction rate is 96%, and torture and coercion are used to obtain confessions.
“This bill reflects the dangerous and growing influence of Kahanist ideology within Israel’s governing institutions and laws. Frighteningly, there are Israelis who currently hold public office who subscribe to this racist, murderous ideology. The normalization of racially targeted execution echoes extremist worldviews long rejected by Jewish communal leadership and forcefully opposed by American Jewish leadership, but now gaining frightening popularity in Israel.
“With the passage of this law, Israel has violated the most basic Jewish principle of the sanctity of human life. Our sages erected extraordinary barriers around the use of capital punishment, saying: ‘The Sanhedrin that puts to death one person in seven years is termed tyrannical. Rabbi Eleazar Ben Azariah says, “One person in 70 years.” Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiba say, “If we had been in the Sanhedrin, no one would have ever been put to death.”’ (Makkot 1:10) Eleazar ben Azariah, Tarfon, and Akiba would behold this Knesset as a disgrace. Judaism has historically helped lead the world away from the death penalty, grounded in the belief that every human being is created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.
“This legislation moves Israel away from justice rooted in dignity, restraint, and equality, and toward a politics of vengeance that endangers lives and erodes the moral foundations of the state. This is a moment of reckoning for Jewish organizations and American Jewish leaders. Those who care about human life and dignity for all living in the land must speak out forcefully against this law and continue to work for systemic change.”
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About T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights brings the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering our network of over 2,300 rabbis and cantors to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.