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Criminal penalties in Israel

Checked in October 2026 against the Penal Law 5737-1977 (חוק העונשין), the text Nevo marks as current to 2 July 2026, read in Hebrew (a commercial copy, not the Knesset's own).

These are statutory ranges for a first offence, from the least to the most the law allows. A court decides the actual sentence in each case. We read the code in its original language and give the offences in plain English, with the legal term where it helps. For anything that matters, rely on the code itself. Not legal advice.

How Israel sets penalties

  • Section 35 says that punishments in the Penal Law are maximum punishments: a court may impose any sentence that does not exceed the one the law sets for the offence. 'דינו – מאסר שבע שנים' ('its penalty is imprisonment for seven years') therefore means up to seven years. The Law does not set a minimum for most offences.
  • A few penalties are mandatory ('עונש חובה'), above all life imprisonment for murder (s. 300(a)). A court may impose a lighter sentence only in the special mitigating circumstances of s. 35A, and it must explain them in the judgment.
  • Israel has one offence of murder (causing death intentionally or with indifference, s. 300), and a separate offence of aggravated murder (s. 301A) with a list of circumstances such as planning, a terrorist or racist motive, special cruelty, a helpless victim or a victim under 14. The earlier offences of manslaughter and premeditated murder have been repealed. Reduced-responsibility killings are in s. 301B (15 or 20 years), reckless killing in s. 301C (12 years) and negligent killing in s. 304 (3 years).
  • A life sentence that is not mandatory may not exceed 20 years (s. 41); for killing offences it may be life for an unlimited period or up to 30 years (s. 311A).
  • Where the law adds that the offender carries a firearm or other weapon, or acts with another, the penalty for several offences is doubled (for example ss. 335 and 408).
  • Fines and drink driving are left out: fines are set by general rules, not in the offence sections, and drink driving is in the Traffic Ordinance, which was not read. This table shows first-offence ranges.

Death penalty: Yes, in a few exceptional cases. The Penal Law provides death or life imprisonment for acts against the sovereignty of the State and for helping the enemy in war (ss. 97 to 99), and death for murder under the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law (s. 300(b)). In the text read, s. 301A(c) also provides death or life imprisonment, and only those two, for intentionally killing a person in an act of terror in order to deny the existence of the State of Israel. Section 96 says that, within the chapter on offences against the State, a court may impose death only for an offence committed while Israel is in military hostilities or is attacked. For ordinary murder the penalty is life imprisonment.

Read the Israel legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →

First-degree murder

Life imprisonment (mandatory); aggravated murder: life imprisonment and no lesser penalty; death or life for an act of terror aimed at denying the existence of the State

Murder (s. 300(a)) is causing the death of a person intentionally or with indifference, and carries life imprisonment, which is mandatory. Aggravated murder (s. 301A(a)) is the same act in one of eleven listed circumstances (planning, to enable or conceal another offence, a witness or judge, racism or hostility toward a group, a punitive act, a spouse after sustained abuse, special cruelty, a helpless victim or a child under 14, danger to others, an act of terror, or on behalf of a crime or terror organisation): life imprisonment 'and this penalty only'. The court may convict of murder under s. 300 instead if special circumstances mean the act does not show an especially grave degree of guilt (s. 301A(b)).

Second-degree murder

The same offence: life imprisonment (mandatory) (s. 300(a))

Israel does not divide murder into first and second degree. The basic offence of murder is shown here, and aggravated murder under first-degree murder. Killings with reduced responsibility are under manslaughter.

Voluntary manslaughter

20 years (killing after provocation or with diminished capacity); 15 years (after severe, prolonged abuse); 12 years (reckless killing); 3 years (negligent killing)

The offence of manslaughter (הריגה) has been repealed. The nearest offences are the reduced-responsibility killings in s. 301B: a killing in a state of severe mental distress caused by serious and prolonged abuse of the offender or a family member by the victim (15 years); a killing immediately after provocation that made it hard to control oneself, a killing when severe mental disorder or an intellectual impairment limited, but did not remove, the ability to understand or to refrain, and a killing that slightly exceeded a defence (each 20 years).

Robbery

Up to 14 years; up to 20 years if armed, in a group, or if the victim was wounded or struck

  • Robbery (שוד): stealing and, at the time or immediately before or after, using or threatening violence against a person or property to obtain or keep the thing or to overcome resistance (Offence (פשע or עוון))

    Least
    No minimum term set by the statute
    Most
    14 years

    Penal Law of Israel (חוק העונשין), s. 402(a)

  • Robbery by an offender armed with a weapon or device that can endanger or harm, or in a group, or who wounds or strikes a person or uses other violence against the body (Offence (פשע or עוון))

    Least
    No minimum term set by the statute
    Most
    20 years

    Penal Law of Israel (חוק העונשין), s. 402(b)

Burglary

Up to 3 years (theft); up to 5 years (entering a home or place of prayer to steal or commit a felony); up to 7 years (breaking in); double if armed

Israel has several linked offences. Entering a place used as a home or for prayer in order to steal or commit a felony is s. 406(a), breaking in is s. 406(b), and breaking into a building that is not a home is s. 407. If the offender carries a firearm or other weapon the penalty is doubled (s. 408).

Arson

Up to 15 years (setting fire to another's property); up to 20 years if aimed at public property, nature, residents' safety or people; up to 3 years (negligent fire)

Aggravated assault

Up to 3 years (wounding); up to 7 years (grievous harm); up to 20 years (with intent to cause disability or grievous harm); doubled if armed or in a group

The penalty for wounding (s. 334) and grievous harm (s. 333) is doubled if the offender carries a weapon, or two or more people acted together (s. 335(a)). Grievous harm to a family member is up to 10 years (s. 335(a1)).

Rape and sexual assault

Up to 16 years (rape); up to 20 years if the victim is under 16, or a weapon, injury, abuse or a group is involved

Rape (אינוס, s. 345) is penetration of a woman or a man without free consent, with consent obtained by deceit about who the offender is or what the act is, of a child under 14 even with consent, or by exploiting unconsciousness, mental illness or an impairment that prevents free consent. Penetration includes the use of a body part or an object in a woman's genital organ or a person's anus, and of a sex organ in a person's mouth.

Kidnapping

Up to 10 years (abduction); up to 20 years (to murder, extort or threaten, or to cause grievous harm); life imprisonment (taking a child from a guardian in order to murder)

Embezzlement

Up to 7 years (theft by a person authorised, an employee, or a director or officer of a company); up to 10 years (a public servant, over NIS 1,000)

Israel has no offence called embezzlement. It is treated as theft by a person entrusted with the property (גניבה בידי מורשה, s. 393), by an employee of the owner (s. 391), by a director or officer of a company (s. 392) or by a public servant (s. 390). Breach of trust by a public servant is a separate offence (s. 284).

Forgery

Up to 1 year (forging a document); up to 3 years (to obtain something); up to 5 years (aggravated)

  • Forging a document (זיוף) (Offence (פשע or עוון))

    Least
    No minimum term set by the statute
    Most
    1 year

    3 years if done with intent to obtain something by it; 5 years in aggravating circumstances.

    Penal Law of Israel (חוק העונשין), s. 418

  • Forging a document containing information about a person or a company, with intent to deceive (Offence (פשע or עוון))

    Least
    No minimum term set by the statute
    Most
    3 years

    Penal Law of Israel (חוק העונשין), s. 419

  • Forgery by a public servant of a document that the servant is responsible for or can reach through the post (Offence (פשע or עוון))

    Least
    No minimum term set by the statute
    Most
    3 years
    Fine
    With or without a fine

    5 years if done with intent to obtain something.

    Penal Law of Israel (חוק העונשין), s. 421

Compare with: France, Russia, Algeria, Morocco, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Japan, Turkey, England and Wales, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, India, China, South Korea, Canada, Argentina, Finland, Norway, Hungary, Czechia, Portugal, Ireland, New Zealand, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Iceland, Latvia, Poland, Bangladesh, Kenya, Colombia, Singapore, Australia (New South Wales).

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