Military order establishes even harsher death penalty regime for West Bank Palestinians than the law it purports to implement
A military order issued on Sunday, 17 May 2026, by the Commander of Israeli Military Forces in the West Bank, which purports to implement the Death Penalty Law passed by the Knesset on 30 March 2026, goes significantly further than its ill-conceived parent. It expands the definition of death-penalty-eligible crimes, shifts the burden of proof of key elements of the crimes to the defendant and creates a death penalty regime more extreme than even the law itself.
In an urgent letter sent yesterday to the relevant Israeli authorities, the human rights organizations demanded the order’s immediate cancellation. The five organizations, together with several Arab members of the Israeli Knesset, are already challenging the Death Penalty Law before the Supreme Court (HCJ 76304-03-26) as unconstitutional, discriminatory, and incompatible with international law. The state was ordered to submit its preliminary response to the petition and the petitioners’ request for an interim injunction to halt the implementation of the law by 24 May 2026.
Beyond the underlying illegality of applying the Death Penalty Law in the occupied territory, the military order goes further on two critical points. It expands the offense to include killings done “with the aim of negating the existence of the State of Israel or the authority of the military commander in the area”, a vague, politically charged formulation that goes beyond even the already extreme definition of “terrorist acts” in the Israeli parallel. It also introduces legal presumptions that spare the prosecution from having to prove the elements that elevate an intentional killing to a death penalty offense: if a weapon was used, or if the accused belongs to an “unlawful association” as classified by Israel, those elements are taken as given. These kinds of presumptions are extraordinary in any criminal case, let alone a capital one.
Together, these additions mean the military order creates a wider, more arbitrary, and more extreme death penalty regime than even the law itself, which is already among the world’s most extreme: it applies exclusively to Palestinians, eliminates any possibility of clemency or sentence reduction, permits death sentences without a unanimous judicial decision, and requires that executions be carried out within 90 days of a final judgment, all within a military court system already marked by systemic fair trial violations and systemic torture.
The organizations further emphasized that the military order violates the laws of occupation. A military commander’s authority derives from and is limited by international humanitarian law, which does not permit importing Israeli domestic legislation, directly or indirectly, into occupied territory.
The human rights organizations demand the cancellation of the order within seven days, and will seek judicial relief if it is not.
To read the letter (in Hebrew)
To read the Military Order (in Hebrew)
Adalah attorney Muna Haddad and Adalah’s legal director Dr. Suhad Bishara sent the letter on behalf of all of the groups.
Related press releases:
Urgent Petition to Israeli Supreme Court Against the Death Penalty Law: Racist Legislation Enshrining Inhumane Punishment and Systemic Oppression
