Volker Turk

UN rights chief urges Israel to repeal death penalty law, warns about war crimes

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk holds press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland on December 10, 2025. [Beyza Binnur Dönmez – Anadolu Agency]

The UN human rights chief urged Israel on Tuesday to revoke its death penalty law, warning against legislative steps targeting Palestinians in violation of international law, Anadolu reports.

Volker Turk encouraged Tel Aviv to step back from the controversial law, which applies “almost exclusively to Palestinians.”

“It is deeply disappointing that this bill has been approved by the Knesset,” he said, highlighting that it is patently inconsistent with Israel’s international law obligations, including in relation to the right to life.

“It raises serious concerns about due process violations, is deeply discriminatory, and must be promptly repealed,” said Turk.

Noting that the controversial law provides that the death sentences, once imposed, must be carried out within 90 days, Turk warned that it is a violation of international humanitarian law.

READ: UN condemns Israeli death penalty law for Palestinians as ‘particularly cruel’

“The death penalty is profoundly difficult to reconcile with human dignity, and it raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people,” he added.

Turk noted that its application to residents of the occupied Palestinian territory “would constitute a war crime.”

The UN human rights chief also expressed alarm at proposals in another bill before the Knesset to establish a Special (Military) Court exclusively to prosecute crimes committed during and in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian armed groups.

Israel’s Knesset passed the law Monday, making the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted of lethal attacks against Israelis.

More than 9,300 Palestinians, including 350 children and 66 women, are being held in Israeli prisons, according to prisoner rights groups and the Israeli Prison Service.

READ: Israeli Knesset passes law mandating death penalty for Palestinian prisoners

Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won. He's challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it's easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel's genocidal expansion.
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.

Continue ReadingUN rights chief urges Israel to repeal death penalty law, warns about war crimes

Israel using famine as ‘a weapon of war,’ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warns

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Many articles from the Morning Star featured today. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-using-famine-as-a-weapon-of-war-un-high%20-for-human-rights-warns

Parachutes drop supplies into the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, March 28, 2024

‘Arms exports must cease, the occupation and settlement policy must end,’ former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says

THERE is “nothing natural” about the famine in Gaza and Western pressure on Israel through a total arms embargo is urgent, left MPs and campaigners said today.

They spoke out as the UN’s top human rights official said Tel Aviv could be using starvation as “a weapon of war” in the overcrowded territory as its invasion enters its fifth month.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told the BBC that if the intent to do this was proven it would amount to a war crime.

Mr Turk condemned the Hamas attack of October 7, during which 1,139 people were killed and about 250 others were taken hostage. But he also said that no side in the war should evade accountability for its actions, including for any attempt to withhold aid supplies from the people who need it in Gaza.

He told the BBC: “All of my humanitarian colleagues keep telling us that there is a lot of red tape. There are obstacles. There are hindrances. Israel is to blame in a significant way.”

“When you put all kinds of requirements on the table that are unreasonable in an emergency that brings up the question, with all the restrictions that we currently see, whether there is a plausible claim to be made that starvation is, or may be used as, a weapon of war.”

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Many articles from the Morning Star featured today. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-using-famine-as-a-weapon-of-war-un-high%20-for-human-rights-warns

Continue ReadingIsrael using famine as ‘a weapon of war,’ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warns