La legge israeliana sulla pena di morte per i ‘terroristi’: violazioni dei diritti umani e responsabilità internazionale di Israele

On 30 March 2026 the Knesset passed a law introducing the mandatory death penalty, carried out by hanging, for those convicted of a terrorist act causing death and committed with the intent to deny the existence of the State of Israel. Although formulated in apparently neutral terms, the law is designed to apply almost exclusively to Palestinians. This article examines its compatibility with international human rights law, focusing on Israel's obligations under the ICCPR, the Convention against Torture and the CERD. It argues that the law breaches the right to life, fair-trial guarantees and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, while contravening the principle of irreversibility of the abolitionist process and the principle of legality. Particular attention is devoted to its discriminatory character, both direct in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and indirect within Israel, which entrenches the "dual regime" already condemned by the International Court of Justice and may amount to racial segregation and apartheid. The article then assesses how Israel's responsibility for these erga omnes (partes) breaches might be invoked before international and quasi-judicial bodies, identifying the CERD inter-State procedure as the only viable avenue, and considers the adoption of targeted sanctions and the suspension of the EU–Israel Association Agreement as further forms of reaction by third States.