Real image of Israeli politician dressed as death penalty bill before it became law spreads online

In early 2026, social media users circulated an image of an Israeli lawmaker, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Limor Son Har-Melech, appearing to hold a noose and lethal injection syringe. Posts claimed Son Har-Melech was holding the props in support of the "Death Penalty for Terrorists Law," which mandates death by hanging as the default punishment for Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks in military courts. 

The law also made death by hanging the default sentence for Israelis convicted of lethal attacks aimed at "ending Israel's existence," but it will not punish Israelis for the same crimes as Palestinians, per the Israeli government. As such, critics and human rights advocates have called the law discriminatory; some experts say it would not affect Jewish Israelis at all in practice. 

The image and associated allegation spread on Reddit, Instagram and X. 

Many posts included the additional claim that the man standing next to Son Har-Melech was her husband and that he was holding a prop gun labeled "Occupation," an airplane labeled "Expulsion" and a house labeled "Settlement" in reference to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, including Israeli settlements that are illegal under international law. 

This image was authentic, meaning not generated or edited using artificial intelligence or other digital editing tools, and it does show Son Har-Melech dressed as the "Death Penalty for Terrorists Law" for Purim, a Jewish holiday that many celebrate by wearing costumes. Son Har-Melech, whom Israeli media has described as a far-right politician, posted the photo in a March 3 Instagram post (archived). She also posted a video of herself in the costume in a March 3 X post and on Instagram.

"With God's help, on next Purim we will need far more than a single breath to read the names of all the terrorists who were hanged..." said a translation from Hebrew of her X post (archived), per Grok, X's artificial intelligence bot. 

As such, we have rated the claim that the image authentically shows Son Har-Melech holding a noose and syringe in reference to the law as true. 

After Israeli lawmakers approved the death penalty law on March 30, 2026, the image circulated online again, this time alongside a claim that the image showed Son Har-Melech celebrating the act's passage. Since the image had already been online for almost a month at that point, that variant of the claim was inaccurate.

However, it is true that Son Har-Melech sponsored the bill and celebrated its passage in other social media posts. 

Haaretz, a reputable Israeli newspaper, shared the photo of Son Har-Melech in a March 4 X post, noting that it came from Son Har-Melech's social media. Many of those online spreading the image were resharing the text from Haaretz's original post, which said that the man pictured was Son Har-Melech's husband. Haaretz also included the "Occupation," "Expulsion" and "Settlement" translations from Hebrew to English.

The man in the picture does appear to be Son Har-Melech's husband, based on the fact that her Instagram caption for the image said, "The winning couple for redemption," according to a translation from Instagram. 

Israeli media has reported that Son Har-Melech married a man named Yehuda after the death of her first husband, Shuli Har-Melech. Fatah, a militant group that rivals Hamas, reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack that killed Shuli Har-Melech.

We reached out to Son Har-Melech to confirm whether the man pictured was indeed her husband and will update this story if we hear back. 

Snopes also confirmed that Israeli officials wore noose pins to support the same death penalty law.