Israel Weighs First Execution Under Death Penalty Law Reserved for Palestinians

Qadri Muhammad Samara, 37, was captured alive after Israeli authorities accused him of shooting and killing settler Netanel Shukrun near Ramallah on Sunday. Within hours, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was on X calling for his execution.

"This is the first incident that meets the criteria of the death penalty law in Israel that we approved," Ben-Gvir wrote, arguing that because Samara was taken alive, the sentence should now be carried out.

The law he is invoking passed the Knesset on 30 March by a vote of 62 to 48, with one abstention. It makes death the default sentence, not a maximum but a floor, for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank convicted by Israeli military courts of intentionally killing someone in an attack classified as terrorism. Judges may depart from that sentence only if they find exceptional circumstances.

The statute excludes Israeli citizens and residents living in the same occupied territory. A settler charged with an equivalent killing would not face this law. Rights groups, including Amnesty International, have said the provision effectively targets Palestinians while carving out those with Israeli citizenship, and have raised due-process concerns about military courts imposing capital sentences at all.

Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that Ben-Gvir raised Samara's case during a security cabinet meeting Sunday, that military representatives said there was in principle no legal obstacle to applying the law, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the matter would be "advanced" for further discussion.

Khaled Mahajneh, a lawyer and human rights activist who specializes in Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, told The New Arab the case fits the law precisely.

"The perpetrator is from the West Bank, the killing took place, and the victim is a Jewish Israeli," Mahajneh said. "The only and basic punishment is death, except in very exceptional cases."

Under the law, executions are to be carried out by hanging within 90 days of a final sentence, and clemency is removed for anyone sentenced to death by a military court. Mahajneh said he believes Samara is now at serious risk of becoming the first person executed under the legislation.

He also pointed to a second front: separate legislation advancing a special tribunal for people accused of participating in the 7 October 2023 attacks, with the death penalty among the available sentences. Mahajneh said between 300 and 400 detainees taken from Gaza in the first days after 7 October remain held in Israel, and that the prospect of executions comes against what he described as a backdrop of documented allegations of torture and sexual abuse of Palestinians in Israeli detention.

"We have become accustomed to the issue of beating prisoners, mistreating them and raping them," Mahajneh said. "It has become normal."

Samara's case has not yet gone to trial. No sentence has been handed down.