Israel’s parliament has passed the first reading of a bill that would introduce the death penalty for “terrorism”.

The amendment to the penal code, proposed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was approved by 39 votes to 16 in the 120-member Knesset on Monday, signalling it has support from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

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According to the draft text, the death penalty would apply to individuals who kill Israelis out of “racist” motives and “with the aim of harming the State of Israel and the revival of the Jewish people in its land”, The Times of Israel reported.

Critics said the wording means that in practice, the death penalty would apply almost exclusively to Arabs who kill Jews, not to Jewish hardliners who carry out attacks on Palestinians.

Attempts to introduce similar legislation have failed in the past. The current bill must pass a second and third reading before becoming law.

A statement from the National Security Committee that includes the bill’s explanatory note said: “Its purpose is to cut off terrorism at its root and create a heavy deterrent.”

‘Blatant violation of international law’

Ben-Gvir welcomed the result of the vote on social media and said his Jewish Power party “is making history”.

Human rights groups have condemned Ben-Gvir’s long-running push for such legislation, warning that it targets Palestinians specifically and deepens systemic discrimination.

While the death penalty still exists for a small number of crimes in Israel, it has become a de facto abolitionist state. Nazi Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann was the last person executed by the country when he was put to death in 1962.

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The vote on the bill took place during the United States-brokered ceasefire aimed at ending the war between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas, which came into effect last month.

Israel’s forces are accused of violating the ceasefire with consistent attacks in Gaza while Israeli settlers and the military have regularly carried out deadly assaults across the occupied West Bank.

Israel has insisted that Hamas is breaking the terms of the ceasefire and remains a threat to its military in Gaza.

Responding to the parliamentary vote, the Palestinian group said the proposed law “embodies the ugly fascist face of the rogue Zionist occupation and represents a blatant violation of international law”.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates called it a “new form of escalating Israeli extremism and criminality against the Palestinian people”.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently being held in Israeli prisons. Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations assert that they are subject to torture, starvation and medical neglect that has led to the deaths of numerous detainees.