Responding to Israel’s new death penalty

The Methodist Church in Great Britain expresses its deep alarm and profound concern at the passage of Israel’s new death penalty law, which will apply to Palestinians tried in military courts. We note with concern that some members of the Knesset appeared to glorify death by arriving for the debate wearing gold noose‑shaped pins and that several lawmakers celebrated the bill’s passage with champagne inside the chamber. We applaud those members who voted against this horrific bill.

Human life is sacred. It must be protected without exception.

B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, has warned that this law entrenches the dehumanisation of Palestinians and “normalizes the killing and injury of human beings,” as Executive Director Yuli Novak stated in response to the legislation.

"Israel is reaching a new low in the dehumanization of Palestinians, enshrining their cruel treatment in state law. It already kills Palestinians systematically and faces no demands for accountability. Under the leadership of top ministers, the Israeli system is day by day becoming a system that normalizes the killing and injury of human beings."

This law has been widely condemned by international bodies, including the Foreign Ministers of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, who issued a rare joint statement calling the law "de facto discriminatory" and the European Union, which called it a “clear step backwards” and urged Israel to uphold its obligations under international law.

We reaffirm unequivocally that life is sacred.

It must be safeguarded, whether threatened by war, terrorism, crime or by the power of the state itself. The normalisation of state‑sanctioned killing erodes justice, undermines human rights and diminishes the dignity of all.

The Revd Richard Andrew and Matthew Forsyth
President and Vice-President of the Methodist Conference