Israel Approves Death Penalty Policy for Detained Palestinian Children, MUI: Loss of Faith in Law
Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) for Foreign Relations and International Cooperation, Prof Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim, has stated that on behalf of humanity, MUI strongly and deeply condemns the approval of the law by the Knesset that imposes the death penalty on Palestinian citizens, including children held in Israeli detention.
“This policy is a new form of escalation in structural violence practices that not only wounds the sense of justice but also shakes the global conscience of humanity; it is a blatant form of state crime that must be a common enemy,” said Sudarnoto to Republika on Sunday (5/4/2026).
MUI asserts that this policy is not merely a domestic legal matter of a country, but a universal humanitarian issue concerning the future of global justice values. When children become targets of legitimised death penalties, what is truly at stake is the world’s conscience.
He emphasised that MUI calls on all elements of the nation and the international community to stand together in rejecting this tyranny and fighting for the upholding of true justice and peace.
“In my view, politically, this step (Israel executing detained Palestinians) clearly shows the increasingly extreme and brutal nature of repressive policies that justify violence as the main instrument in dealing with Palestinian civilians,” he said.
Sudarnoto added that what Israel is doing also reflects the absence of commitment from Israel to peaceful solutions and respect for basic human rights.
Meanwhile, diplomatically, the approval of this law is an action that deepens Israel’s moral delegitimisation in the eyes of the world, while weakening the entire architecture of peace diplomacy built by the international community, including through the UN. Furthermore, legally, this policy is also a serious violation of fundamental norms of international law.
“Of course, what Israel is doing directly contradicts the principles in the Geneva Conventions and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly prohibit the death penalty for children and require maximum protection for civilians in conflict situations,” he said.
MUI conveys that the implementation of this law has the potential to cause very serious and widespread consequences, namely driving conflict escalation to an increasingly uncontrollable phase and legitimising state violence practices against vulnerable groups, especially children.
This policy also destroys the foundation of trust in international legal and diplomatic mechanisms, and therefore, this approval becomes a dangerous precedent that can damage the international legal order based on human rights. What Israel is doing also deepens humanitarian wounds and prolongs suffering.