By a vote of 62 to 48, Israel’s Knesset approved a law Monday enshrining the death penalty as the default punishment for Palestinians who carry out an “act of terrorism” on citizens of Israel. The law does not apply to the state-backed terrorism of far-right Zionist settlers, who routinely assault and kill Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank.

Anyone who deliberately kills a person with the intent of “negating the existence of the state of Israel” is to be executed by hanging. The law restricts access to legal counsel for the accused in Israel’s civil courts and grants immunity to all persons involved in carrying out such state executions.

For the system of military courts established by the Zionist regime in the West Bank, under which only Palestinian residents fall, execution by hanging will be the standard punishment for “acts of terrorism,” even without a prosecutorial request. Such executions must be carried out within 90 days. The only power given to the courts in this setting is to impose a life sentence in “exceptional circumstances.” Given how rampant torture and other forms of abuse in Israel’s prison system are, such a decision would in many instances amount to a death sentence by other means.

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