A Nicosia-based advocacy group staged a demonstration outside the Israeli embassy on Wednesday evening to protest a death penalty law passed by the Israeli Knesset on 30 March 2026.
United for Palestine (UfP) Nicosia organised the protest, which took place at 6pm on 8 April. In a statement, the group described the legislation as an “apartheid law” that enshrines the death penalty by hanging for Palestinians — whether citizens of Israel or residents of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
According to UfP, the law makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians found guilty of carrying out deadly attacks deemed acts of terrorism by an Israeli military court.
The group said that Israel routinely detains Palestinians without charge or trial and extracts confessions under duress through physical and psychological torture, including from children.
UfP argued that the law does not apply to Israeli Jewish perpetrators accused of similar crimes, establishing what it described as clear racial separation. In the West Bank, the group said, the law applies exclusively to the Palestinian population and not to Israeli citizens, Israeli residents or violent settlers.
Within Israel itself, UfP said an amendment to the civil Penal Code conditions the death penalty on acts committed with the intent to “negate the existence of the State of Israel,” which the group said effectively excludes Israeli Jewish perpetrators.
The organisation said the law violates international humanitarian law and international human rights law and called for its repeal.
UfP noted that several European figures have already spoken out against the legislation, including EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius. The group called on President Nikos Christodoulides to do the same.
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