Discussion of a bill advancing the death penalty for terrorists, championed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party on the agenda for a meeting on Tuesday of the Knesset’s National Security Committee was postponed.
Ynet has learned that the delay came at the request of Gal Hirsch, the government’s coordinator for hostages and missing persons, who warned of possible repercussions on the hostages’ lives and noted the timing, just as Israeli forces begin the ground operation in Gaza City. Families of hostages also requested a postponement.
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Meeting of the Knesset’s National Security Committee
(Photo: Noam Moskowitz, Knesset Spokesperson)
The debate has already been delayed several times in recent months for the same reason. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the measure should first be approved by the security cabinet. The repeated delays have frustrated Ben -Gvir’s party, which has sought to push the legislation forward each time.
Committee chair Zvika Fogel of Otzma Yehudit said in announcing the latest delay: “The next debate was supposed to deal with the death penalty for terrorists. But it was postponed due to a lot of information that came to me. It will now take place on the 28th of the month. And it will take place for a very simple reason—terrorists with blood on their hands, and even those without blood on their hands, don’t deserve to live in this world.”
The bill’s explanatory notes state: “A terrorist convicted of murder motivated by racism or hostility toward a group, and under circumstances intended to harm the State of Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in its land, shall be sentenced to death—mandatory, not optional, and not subject to judicial discretion.”
The bill would also amend current law to allow the death penalty by a majority vote of judges and to prohibit reducing the sentence once a final verdict is issued.