DayofPal– Israel has approved over 30 pieces of legislation since October 2023 that entrench what legal rights group Adalah describes as an increasingly repressive and discriminatory system targeting Palestinians.
The laws, passed between 7 October 2023 and 27 July 2025, restrict civil and political rights across several key areas, including freedom of expression, protest, and due process.
In a detailed report released on Monday, Adalah argues that the new legislation accelerates longstanding discriminatory trends and expands the use of counterterrorism measures almost exclusively against Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem.
The report highlights the growing reliance on Israel’s 2016 Counter-Terrorism Law, which contains broad definitions of “terrorist acts” and “terror organizations”.
Adalah states these provisions have become central tools for suppressing Palestinian political speech, especially since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in 2023.
One controversial bill now advancing through the Knesset would introduce the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners accused of nationalist-motivated offences, while ignoring the same attacks against Palestinians by Israeli settlers.
Another legislative trend directs state resources and benefits to Jewish Israeli military reservists, excluding Palestinian citizens from tax breaks, welfare support, higher education benefits, and employment incentives.
The report says many of these measures reflect the priorities set out in Israel’s constitutional framework, particularly the 2018 Nation State Basic Law, which enshrines Jewish national supremacy and prioritises Jewish settlement as a national goal.
Adalah notes that temporary security regulations have been repeatedly renewed or transformed into permanent legislation, enabling harsher detention conditions and wider powers to deny Palestinian detainees access to lawyers or fair legal proceedings.
Among the new laws are measures criminalizing the consumption of media deemed supportive of “terrorism”, banning statements that contradict the Israeli government’s narrative of the 7 October attacks, and allowing the education ministry to dismiss teachers or defund schools over allegedly supporting ‘terrorism’.
Foreign nationals may also be denied entry for critical public statements or for appealing to international judicial bodies. Israeli authorities have additionally gained new powers to restrict media broadcasts deemed harmful to state security.
Amal Orabi, a Palestinian lawyer and activist based in Haifa, said the legislation is designed to silence Palestinians inside Israel and prevent them from communicating with the global public.
“These laws aim to suppress Palestinian voices and prevent them from exposing violations,” he said, adding that the measures are not applied equally, noting that Jewish Israelis engaging in incitement face little scrutiny.
Orabi said the growing legal arsenal has emboldened discriminatory behaviour and settler assaults, citing attacks on Palestinian bus drivers, harassment of Palestinian women, and restrictions on access to public spaces.
According to Adalah, the wartime atmosphere has accelerated the passage of discriminatory laws. The group has now catalogued 100 such laws in total.
These include policies enabling deportations of Palestinian families, blocking family unification, stripping social benefits from families of children convicted of “security offences”, and allowing the closure of independent media outlets.
Miriam Azem, Adalah’s international advocacy coordinator, said the laws overwhelmingly target Palestinians under the guise of counterterrorism and security, often passing with support from both government and opposition parties.
She warned that the legislative push shows no sign of slowing. In the current parliamentary session alone, bills extending the offence of accessing “terrorist publications” and the death penalty bill for Palestinian prisoners have already progressed.
“The Knesset’s aggressive legislative campaign against Palestinians continues unabated,” Azem said.
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