While over two years of genocide in Gaza has demonstrated that there is no depth to which the Israeli state won’t descend in its goal of eliminating the Palestinian people, South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) notes that Israel’s recently enacted law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted on terror charges marks a new low in this particularly dark chapter in the Zionist state’s existence. Sixty-two Israeli law makers, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, voted in favour of this new law, championed by one of Israel’s most dangerous politicians, far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir. The Bill was passed easily, with only forty-eight Knesset members opposing it.
By mandating execution for Palestinians in military courts while exempting Israeli settlers from the same standard, the Knesset has institutionalised apartheid and state-sponsored, political murder.
As South Africans, we recognise this law not as justice, but as a page torn from our own tragic history. Between 1961 and 1989, the apartheid government executed approximately 134 political prisoners, including Vuyisile Mini, Solomon Mahlangu, and the “Moroka Three” . Those men were hanged under “terrorism” acts and the “common purpose” doctrine—legal fictions designed to crush resistance to a racist regime. Today, Israel is constructing the same legal gallows. Just as Pretoria Central Prison became a site of state horror, Israel is now legislating the right to hang Palestinians it unilaterally labels “terrorists.” The apartheid precedent is undeniable: when a state defines resistance to occupation as “terrorism,” it does not fight crime. It executes politics.
The legislation’s discriminatory structure is not a bug but a feature. It forces military courts to impose death on Palestinians, yet allows civil courts to show “mercy” to Israeli citizens. This ensures that while a Palestinian stone-thrower could face the noose, armed Israeli settlers—whose violence is escalating across the West Bank with total impunity—will never face the same fate. The UN has documented over 1,732 settler attacks in one year, describing a “coordinated, strategic” campaign of ethnic cleansing backed by state-issued weapons. Under this law, the settler committing a pogrom is protected; the Palestinian defending his home is executed.
We must also note the context of mass incarceration. Israel currently holds over 9,500 Palestinians, including 351 children in custody. More than half of those children are held without charge or trial. These prisoners – some would say hostages – now face a death sentence, adjudicated by a system where the conviction rate exceeds 99%.
Crucially, this law leaves it to the occupying power, Israel, to define who is a “terrorist.” History proves this definition is a weapon. From the Negev to the Galilee, Israel has detained thousands without evidence, often using secret information to justify administrative detention. To grant the state the power to define, prosecute, and execute “terrorists” without universal judicial safeguards is to legalise a system of political liquidation.
The South African Jewish community knows where this leads. We remember that the apartheid government claimed it was fighting “terrorism” too. We know that Jewish identity cannot be weaponised to justify the execution of an occupied people.
SAJFP calls on the international community to treat this law for what it is: A revival of apartheid-era judicial murder. We stand with the Palestinian people, and we will fight this law as our predecessors fought the gallows in Pretoria.
We join our comrades at Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq in calling for all states, organisations and individuals worldwide to:
1. Pressure Israel to abandon the bill;
2. Impose sanctions and a full arms embargo on Israel
3. Ensure accountability under international law.
Not in our name. Never again for anyone.