Poland criticises Israeli law mandating death sentence for Palestinian terrorists

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland has criticised a new Israeli law that would make death by hanging the default punishment for Palestinian West Bank residents convicted of deadly terrorist acts.

“It is completely unacceptable in a state of law to apply the death penalty in a way that could be considered discriminatory against people of a particular nationality,” wrote the Polish foreign ministry in a statement issued on Wednesday evening.

On Tuesday, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, approved by a 62-47 majority a law mandating the death penalty for West Bank residents convicted by military courts of deadly terrorist attacks.

The measures, long championed by far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would allow death sentences to be issued by a simple majority of judges, rather than requiring unanimity, and eliminate the right of appeal, reports the Times of Israel.

Given that the law excludes Israeli citizens or residents, and only Palestinians face trial in military courts, it is in effect applicable only to Palestinians, notes the newspaper.

The bill has drawn condemnation from human rights groups and Palestinian leaders, and on Tuesday the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said that the EU is “deeply concerned about the de facto discriminatory character of the bill”.

In its statement, the Polish foreign ministry said that it “supports the position expressed by [Kallas]”. It added that, “due to our particular historical sensitivity, we call on Israel to maintain a moratorium both on carrying out executions and on imposing the death penalty”.

That was presumably a reference to Poland’s brutal history of being invaded and occupied, with foreign rulers often imposing strict measures against the Polish population. During World War Two, the Nazi-German occupation resulted in the deaths of around six million Polish citizens, half of them Jews.

The Polish ministry concluded its statement by reiterating that “Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which underlies most of the security threats in the region, cannot be resolved in any way other than through negotiations conducted in good faith and with respect for international law”.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israel’s new law was also criticised by Marcin Przydacz, the chief foreign policy aide to Polish President Karol Nawrocki, who is aligned with the right-wing opposition.

In an interview with broadcaster Radio Zet, he said that the law is “not OK”, in particular the fact that it “applies only to members of a given community or nation”.

In the same interview, Przydacz also said that Israel’s broader actions in Gaza and Lebanon “are in no way morally defensible” and “violate international law”.

Poland’s government has also previously criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza, but has not directly accused it of violating international law.

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.