A PRESS STATEMENT

 

The Jamiatul Ulama South Africa condemns the recent Knesset resolution in Israel that mandates the death penalty exclusively for Palestinians convicted of murder, while exempting illegal Israeli settlers for the same offence.

This blatant double standard reflects the Apartheid nature of the Zionist state, where the lives of Occupied Palestinian people are devalued and the impunity of occupiers is now being further enshrined in law.

 

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers—operating under the protection of the Israeli military—have killed scores of Palestinians in recent years, including children, with minimal accountability. Data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documents over 1,200 settler attacks resulting in deaths or injuries since October 2023 alone, yet convictions remain rare, and consequences even rarer.

 

This resolution weaponises capital punishment against an occupied population already subjected to systemic violence, land theft, and collective punishment. Such legislation violates fundamental principles of equality under the law, as affirmed in Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and contravenes Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It is not justice; it is vengeance disguised as policy, perpetuating a cycle of occupation and dehumanisation.

Meanwhile, security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir brazenly celebrated the passing of the resolution, underscoring the Zionist regime’s descent towards total moral depravity. The only regret from some of the opposition figures has not been about the way the country’s image will be projected abroad, but how much they missed on the opportunity to back a ‘popular’ decision, for votes.

 

JUSA calls on activists, nations and international bodies not only to continue denouncing this resolution, but also impose targeted sanctions on the enablers of this racist and colonial law.

 

JUSA joins all those who demand accountability for all extrajudicial killings and murders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories—regardless of the perpetrator’s identity.

 

Released by:

 

The Executive Committee
Jamiatul Ulama South Africa

 

12 Shawwal 1447 / 01 April 2026