The Israeli parliament moved the amendment to the criminal law to the first reading. The law proposes the death penalty for terrorists, thus gaining the support of both the Prime Minister and the Minister for National Security.
On Monday, the National Security Committee of the Israeli Parliament moved to the first reading a draft amendment to the criminal law that would introduce the death penalty for convicted terrorists. The proposal is being pushed by the radical Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, and according to the government’s hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch, it is supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. TASR informs about it according to the AFP agency and the Times of Israel (TOI) portal.
Hirsch originally did not agree with the amendment to the law, as it could endanger the hostages held by the Palestinian militant movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “Since the hostages are now in Israel, opposition to the proposal is no longer relevant,” he said. “The prime minister supports this proposal. I see this law as another tool in our arsenal against terrorism and for the release of hostages,” he added.
The law has a controversial wording
The controversial law stipulates that courts will be able to impose the death penalty on those who commit the nationalistically motivated murder of an Israeli citizen. It would not apply to Israelis who commit the murder of Palestinians, writes TOI. The submitter states in the explanatory report that the main purpose of the law is to stop terrorism in its infancy and should serve as a deterrent.
“There will be no room for further discretion in this law,” declared Ben Gvir. The bill does not consider that the death penalty could be commuted after the verdict. “Every terrorist who is going to commit murder must know that there is only one punishment – the death penalty,” declared the minister.
Ben Gvir warned that if the law is not passed by Sunday, his Ocma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party will stop voting with the governing coalition, potentially jeopardizing its existence. AFP reminds that although there is a death penalty for certain crimes in Israel, it is not carried out in practice. The last executed in 1962 was one of the masterminds of the Holocaust – the Nazi Adolf Eichmann.
