Israel’s Knesset has passed a new law allowing the execution of Palestinians convicted of carrying out fatal attacks against Israelis, in a move that reflects a sharper hardening of Israeli policy in the aftermath of the 2023 Gaza war.
Under the law, hanging becomes the primary punishment in the military courts where Palestinians are tried, despite objections from human rights groups and international critics.
Legal experts say the law’s structure makes it practically enforceable only against Palestinians, even though it is presented in theory as applying to all citizens of Israel. Specialists argue that the chances of it ever being applied to Jewish extremists involved in similar crimes are almost nonexistent. That has fuelled accusations of systematic discrimination in the administration of justice, prompting comparisons to what is described as a “Saxony law”.
What Is Meant by a “Saxony Law”?
The term “Saxony law” is used in political and legal writing to describe a historical pattern found in medieval European legal systems, where punishments differed according to a person’s social class or identity rather than the gravity of the crime itself.
Today, the term is invoked as a critical metaphor for double standards in the application of justice, when rulings and punishments vary according to identity, race, religion or social status instead of equality before the law.
Why Critics Say the Law Targets Palestinians
The disparity is not limited to the wording of the law itself. It also appears in the structure of the trials. Most Palestinians are prosecuted before military courts that lack the legal protections available in Israel’s civilian courts. This includes more limited opportunities for appeal or clemency, in addition to the requirement of only a simple majority of judges to issue a death sentence, unlike the stricter standards found in other legal systems.
Critics of the law say it clearly targets Palestinians and undermines the principle of equality before justice. They also point to previous cases in which the death penalty was not applied to Jewish Israelis who committed massacres against Palestinians, reinforcing accusations of a deeply unequal legal order.
A Wider Shift in Israeli Policy
The passage of this law also comes at a time when the Israeli army has changed its rules of engagement in the occupied West Bank. In practice, these new rules allow soldiers to use their weapons against Palestinians with lethal force as soon as a soldier claims to perceive a potential threat.
Taken together, the developments point to a legal and military framework in which Palestinians face harsher punishment, fewer protections and a lower threshold for being killed, while Jewish Israelis accused of comparable violence remain effectively shielded from the same consequences.
