In 2012, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions has predicted that, given the pace of abolition, the death penalty may be “a thing of the past by 2026”. Yet now in 2026, from Israel to Iran, Trump’s USA to the European Far Right, we witness a resurgence of the death penalty, in political rhetoric and legislative efforts, as well as death sentences and executions. How can we make sense of this trend? Durkheim, Foucault and Garland, in different ways, have all assumed that the death penalty would not serve a meaningful function in modern societies and that it is bound to disappear. What then explains not only its survival but its revival? Is it a classic pendulum swing responding to an overreach of abolitionists, an authoritarian nostalgia to rough justice, or a broader rejection of the civilizing process? This paper will analyze this trend, focusing on current legislative processes in Israel, and will aim to unpack the allure of judicial executions for far-right populists, especially on the background of widespread extra-judicial killings, and to draw broader insights on penal change and symbols in contemporary global culture.