Egypt’s Al-Azhar condemned on Tuesday an Israeli law that passed Monday to allow the death penalty exclusively for Palestinian prisoners.

Al-Azhar, the world’s leading institution for Sunni Islamic learning, expressed deep “disgust” at the collapse of the international legal system and its failure to stop Israel from advancing the legislation, which was approved by the Knesset Monday. 

The institution called on the international community and human rights organizations to uphold their moral and legal responsibilities. The statement urged these institutions to act immediately to halt such procedures, which “disregard international law and norms,” and to hold perpetrators accountable to save innocent lives from an “unjust fate.”

The Cairo-based institution emphasized its categorical rejection of all Israeli measures aimed at legalizing the murder of Palestinians. It described the move as a “bloody” revelation of the occupation’s nature, accusing it of seeking a “false and blatant legislative cover” for criminal acts and killings.

Al-Azhar characterized the law as a “desperate attempt” to give a legal character to state-sanctioned murder, reflecting a state of “brutality and moral breakdown” that violates all human values.

The law, which does not apply to Israelis, has been widely slammed. Major Arab and Muslim countries condemned the move, and a joint Monday statement by Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and the UK said “we are particularly worried about the de facto discriminatory character of the bill.”

The statement, which opposes capital punishment at large, added that “the adoption of this bill would risk undermining Israel’s commitments with regards to democratic principles.”

While the death penalty is illegal in Israel for ordinary crimes, including murder, only one person, Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, has been executed in the history of Israel.

Only one Jewish citizen has ever been sentenced to death in Israel—a ruling that was later overturned.