Daijiworld Media Network – Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Nov 11: In a move stirring intense political and international debate, Israel’s parliament on Monday approved a bill in its first reading that seeks to impose the death penalty on those convicted of terrorist acts — a measure that could apply to Palestinians found guilty of deadly attacks against Israelis.
The proposed amendment to the penal code, pushed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and endorsed by the National Security Committee, passed with 39 votes in favour and 16 against. The bill will need to clear two more readings before becoming law.
The vote took place amid a fragile truce in Gaza following months of conflict triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks. Though Israel legally retains the death penalty for a few exceptional crimes, it has not been implemented since the execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.
Ben Gvir, who had repeatedly demanded a tougher stance on security, had earlier threatened to pull his Jewish Power party out of the governing coalition if the bill was not brought to vote. “Its purpose is to cut off terrorism at its root and create a heavy deterrent,” the National Security Committee said in a statement accompanying the bill.
Under the proposed law, any “terrorist convicted of murder motivated by racism or hatred towards the public, and under circumstances intended to harm the State of Israel,” would face a mandatory death sentence.
The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from Palestinian groups and international observers. Hamas condemned the move, saying it “embodies the ugly fascist face of the rogue Zionist occupation and represents a blatant violation of international law.” The Palestinian foreign ministry in Ramallah called the bill “a new form of escalating Israeli extremism and criminality against the Palestinian people.”
The Israeli government, meanwhile, continues consultations with the United States and other allies over the ongoing truce in Gaza and the broader conditions for peace in the region.