Israel’s observer status at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly could be suspended after the Knesset passed a law mandating the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly acts of terror in military courts – while containing a provision that effectively exempts Jewish Israelis from the same penalty.
Petra Bayr, an Austrian Social Democrat and president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said not using the death penalty was “really a requirement” of having observer status at the pan-European human rights body. She told the Guardian that the Knesset’s observer status “might be suspended until there is a decision against or until it is clear that the law will not go into force.”
“There are red lines,” she said. “Even a non-discriminatory death penalty is a no-go.”
What the law actually does
The law passed by the Israeli parliament mandates the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly acts of terror in military courts operating in occupied Palestine. Palestinians convicted of the same crimes in Israel’s civilian courts face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
However, Jewish Israelis are in effect protected from the capital sentence by a provision that applies the law only to murder committed with the “intent to deny the existence of the state of Israel.” Human rights groups have petitioned Israel’s supreme court to strike down the law on the grounds that it is discriminatory in both design and application.
Israel abolished the death penalty for most crimes in 1954 and has maintained a de facto moratorium on capital punishment since the execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962. The new law represents a significant departure from that 64-year record.
The significance of observer status
The Knesset has held observer status at the Strasbourg-based PACE since 1957. The assembly brings together 46 member states to promote democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond, and is the parent organisation of the European Court of Human Rights. Officials at PACE could not recall any parliament having previously lost observer status.
The closest precedent is Russia, which was stripped of its voting rights in 2014 following the annexation of Crimea and eventually withdrew from the Council of Europe entirely in 2022 under threat of expulsion after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Israel’s observer status was already under scrutiny before the death penalty law. A cross-party motion signed by PACE parliamentarians last June urged Israeli authorities to “comply with international humanitarian law” in Gaza, citing starvation, lack of access to medical care and the absence of safe refuge for civilians. Turning such a motion into an actionable text backed by a majority of the assembly’s 306 parliamentarians can take up to two years, but Bayr said a decision on the Gaza motion could advance in June “if it is fast-tracked” – and suggested a statement on the death penalty could be included in that text.
The vote on capital punishment this week
The assembly is voting this week on a report by Dutch left-wing MP Gala Veldhoen that “strongly urges Israel to maintain its longstanding abolition of the death penalty for ordinary crimes” and to “refrain from expanding the list of crimes punishable by death in a discriminatory manner.”
Israel’s own opposition speaks
Meirav Ben-Ari, an Israeli opposition politician who leads Israel’s delegation to PACE, distanced herself from the legislation while appealing to the assembly not to take extreme action.
“The death penalty legislation passed in the Knesset is entirely contrary to my worldview and that of many Israelis,” she said. “Petitions against this populist law have already been filed with the supreme court, and I am confident the judiciary will strike down many of its provisions, if not the law entirely.”
She appealed directly to PACE: “It is my sincere hope that the assembly will refrain from taking extreme measures against the Knesset delegation so that together we may continue to advance our shared objectives.”
The broader context
The law’s passage comes during the Iran war, a period in which international scrutiny of Israeli actions has intensified significantly. More than 70,000 people have now died in Gaza according to figures from the Gaza Health Ministry, figures which Israel itself has described as “broadly accurate.” South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice remains ongoing. The EU petition to suspend the Israel Association Agreement has passed one million signatures.
The death penalty law – explicitly discriminatory in its application, applying to one ethnic group under military courts while exempting another under a provision constructed around statehood – adds a further dimension to the international legal and diplomatic pressure surrounding Israel’s conduct. Whether PACE acts on Bayr’s warning, and whether Israel’s supreme court strikes the law down before it can take effect, will be among the most closely watched legal and human rights questions of the coming months.
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