Israel’s New Lynching Law Was Inspired by America’s Death Penalty
Israel’s recently passed Death Penalty for Terrorists law is a frightening indicator of the depravity of this moment in Israeli politics. But it also shows how the authoritarian regimes in Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel and Donald Trump’s America are operating parallel projects, egging each other on to more and more grotesque extremes. At the same time that Israel’s far-right parties took a page from U.S. lynch law to intensify the murderous repression of Palestinians, Trump’s MAGA administration and its allies were trying to undo citizenship rights guaranteed under the 14th Amendment, along with the civil rights–era Voting Rights Act.
Under the Israeli law, passed on March 30, Palestinians found guilty of acts of deadly attacks intended to “negate the existence of the State of Israel” will be executed within 90 days of conviction (with a possible 180-day extension).Because doctors in the Israel Medical Association refuse to participate in lethal injections, the law explicitly requires death by hanging. At the end of 2025, as the legislation worked its way through the Knesset, far-right lawmakers showed their support by wearing a lapel pin in the shape of a noose — a chilling symbol to anyone familiar with America’s history of lynching.
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