Hastings Jews for Justice Protests Israel's Apartheid Death Penalty Law

The powerful action drew onlookers and made a bit impact online.

Members of Hastings Jews for Justice took to the streets on Saturday 21 March to protest the planned execution law currently going through the Israeli parliament which targets Palestinians only.

The legislation, initiated by the far-right Otzma Yehudit party led by the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has passed its first reading and is due to have its second and third readings next week.

Dressed all in black with T-shirts that read ‘Not in our Name’, five members of the group wore a noose each around their necks and blindfolds to denote the ‘condemned’ while others held placards that read: ‘As Jews, we condemn Israel’s planned racist ‘death penalty’ law that targets Palestinians.’

‘Palestinians in Israeli prisons are already tortured, abused, starved and raped.’

‘They will be hanged. There is no appeal.’

‘This is state-sanctioned murder say human rights groups.’

‘As Jews we call on all MPs to condemn this vile law.’

This is an apartheid policy, applying only to Palestinians, not Israeli Jews, reflecting the reality of structural apartheid in Israel and Palestine whereby Palestinians under Israeli jurisdiction suffer severely restricted rights affecting every aspect of life.

The death penalty law will be applied to convictions through military, not civilian courts.

As of July 2025 the conviction rate in these courts was found to be as high as 99.7%. 

Currently more than 9,300 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, where they are routinely tortured, abused, neglected and starved. 

More than a third have not been charged with any crime and at least 88 Palestinians have died while in Israeli detention.

During the silent protest, leaflets were handed out, inviting locals to sign on to a letter to the MP from members of HJJ.

The video of the powerful action has now gone viral, viewed over 131,000 on Instagram alone.

Veteran British artist Annie Lennox, who shared the video, praised the action as a ‘moving example of how local activism can be incredibly powerful’.

She wrote: ‘Speaking up about what the Israeli government is doing is not antisemitic! It never was and it never will be. When your government is carrying out war crimes and crimes against humanity it is a moral right and obligation to speak up and challenge it.’

Amnesty International says the law amounts to the Israeli government ‘brazenly granting itself carte blanche to impose death sentences on Palestinians.

‘Any death sentences imposed under these amendments would constitute a violation of the right to life and, when imposed by a military court, may also amount to war crimes.’

A spokesperson for Hastings Jews for Justice said: ‘Our representatives have so far remained shamefully silent about this law.

‘But this new death penalty law fits right into the existing brutalization of Palestinians – it is a racist, apartheid law as it applies only to Palestinians.

‘Israel is an apartheid state, according to most human rights groups and the International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion of 2024. Israel is also committing genocide in Gaza and has now launched an illegal and unprovoked war on Iran.

‘With policies such as these, we cannot continue to pretend that Israel operates as a democracy. We cannot continue to sell arms to Israel that are being used to kill Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. 

‘It is worth remembering that in 1969 our government finally abolished capital punishment in the UK, arguing such punishment was a ‘barbarous penalty’. How much more barbarous then to enact this policy in a discriminatory system that targets just one group of people?

‘We call on the British government condemn this appalling apartheid law, to end all arms sales and other military cooperation and to impose sanctions now.’

• Hastings constituents are invited to add their names to a letter to MP Helena Dollimore MP from Hastings Jews for Justice: https://forms.gle/BW45kFKVRwpR5GL5A

• For those in other constituencies, please feel free to use the letter as a template to email your MP or representative.