Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 May 2026
65. Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the actions she is planning in international forums to oppose recently enacted legislation in Israel sanctioning the death penalty in military courts, effectively targeting Palestinian people; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26967/26]
View answerIreland condemns the law passed by the Israeli parliament to expand the scope of the death penalty and revive its implementation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.
Ireland is particularly concerned about the discriminatory nature of the Bill as it relates to Palestinians.
Ireland has additional concerns about the law passed by the Israeli Knesset on 11 May, establishing a special hybrid military tribunal to prosecute Palestinians held in Israeli custody on suspicion of participation in the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October, 2023 and whereby the death penalty may be imposed on defendants convicted of Genocide by the special hybrid military tribunal.
There must be full accountability for the atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October but fundamental procedural protections essential to a fair trial must be respected.
Ireland urges Israel to withdraw the death penalty law and to maintain the longstanding de facto moratorium on executions and capital punishment sentencing with a view to abolishing the death penalty entirely.
Ireland maintains a steadfast, principled opposition to the death penalty, actively promoting its universal abolition through our membership of the UN Human Rights Council. During the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva last year, Ireland delivered a national statement at the Biennial High-Level Panel on the Death Penalty setting out our consistent position on the death penalty. Ireland is also a member of the coalition of States supporting the International Commission against the Death Penalty.
The EU Ambassador to the State of Israel has delivered a démarche to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the death penalty law on behalf of EU Member States.
At the EU Foreign Affairs Council, I will continue to press for appropriate EU action in response to persistent Israeli breaches of human rights and international law. At the May meeting, I reiterated that Ireland is ready to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, or at a minimum to suspend the trade elements of the Agreement as previously proposed by the European Commission, in response to egregious Israeli breaches of human rights and democratic principles.
