Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom expressed “deep concern” over proposed amendments to Israel’s criminal code that would expand the use of the death penalty. In a joint statement by their foreign ministers, the four nations urged Israel to abandon the initiative. The proposed amendments could go to a Knesset vote in the coming days, DW reported.

“We are particularly concerned about the de facto discriminatory nature of this bill. Its adoption would call into question Israel’s commitment to democratic principles. The death penalty is an inhumane and degrading form of punishment that has no deterrent effect. Abolishing the death penalty is a fundamental value that unites us,” the statement said.

The bill, which introduces the death penalty for terrorism offenses, was initiated by Limor Son Har-Melech, a member of the far-right Jewish Power party, and was approved by the Knesset in its first reading in November 2025. The amendments would allow the death penalty for a Palestinian who kills an Israeli, but not for an Israeli who kills a Palestinian, according to earlier reports by AFP.

Although Israeli law allows the death penalty in certain cases, it has been carried out only once — in 1962, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, one of the main organizers of the deportation of European Jews to death camps, was executed by hanging in Jerusalem.