Carolyn Hoyle writes for Jewish News on new death penalty legislation in Israel

On 30 March 2026, Professor Carolyn Hoyle, Director of the Death Penalty Research Unit, published an op-ed with the Jewish News newspaper, addressing new legislation in Israel that seeks to revive the use of the death penalty. 

Professor Hoyle’s article, titled ‘Ben Gvir’s noose will not bring security’, addresses legislation which provides for the use of the death penalty for those convicted of terrorism, framed in explicitly discriminatory terms against Palestinian defendants. If executions were to resume, this would mark the first judicial execution in Israel since that of Adolf Eichmann in 1962. 

The article responds in particular to claims made by proponents of the legislation that capital punishment would act as a deterrent against terrorism, drawing on existing criminological evidence which suggests that the death penalty is an ineffective deterrent, both in general and especially with respect to terrorism.

The op-ed article can be read in full on the Jewish News website.

Together with Professor Ron Dudai of Ben Gurion University (Research Associate in the Centre for Criminology), Professor Hoyle has prepared an expert legal opinion, which will be submitted to the Supreme Court of Israel as part of a forthcoming petition challenging the constitutionality of the legislation.