As of: 02/26/2023 6:27 p.m
Israel’s government is working to introduce the death penalty for terrorism in cases such as the recent attack in the West Bank that killed two Israeli settlers. The attack also overshadowed a summit meeting in Jordan.
The right-wing religious government of Israel has introduced the introduction of the death penalty for terrorist offenses. Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, said the cabinet made a decision to that effect on Sunday. The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is due to discuss the matter for the first time on Wednesday.
According to the draft, anyone who “deliberately or out of indifference causes the death of an Israeli citizen, if the act is carried out with a racist motive or out of hatred against a certain group of people” and if this “with the purpose of destroying the state hurting Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in their homeland” be done.
In areas of the West Bank occupied by Israel, there should be a special solution: death sentences would be passed here by military courts, whose judges would not have to decide unanimously.
It is not yet known how the death sentences will be carried out.
Death penalty for most cases abolished in 1954
The introduction of the death penalty for terrorism is a dream project of the radical party Otzmah Jehudit (Jewish Strength), the coalition partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Israel had abolished the death penalty for most crimes and in peacetime in 1954. It is still permitted for some cases, including genocide, crimes against humanity and against the Jewish people, and war. It has only been carried out once since 1954: in 1962, the Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann was executed after his trial in Jerusalem.
Attorney General: Proposed legislation unconstitutional
Israel’s Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, had criticized the new law and called it unconstitutional. In addition, the law cannot be extended to the West Bank because Israeli law has not yet applied there.
She also doubted that the death penalty would act as a deterrent, as claimed by the government. In other legislative projects, the Israeli government is working on weakening the Supreme Court – in future, parliament should be able to overrule court decisions, for example on unconstitutional laws.
Netanyahu and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is also Otzmah Jehudit’s party leader, defended the plans: “This is a moral law and it is appropriate: if it can exist in the world’s largest democracy, then certainly in a country in in which a wave of terror is sweeping away Israeli citizens.”
Two Israelis shot dead in the West Bank
They were reacting to the recent violence in the West Bank. Two Israeli settlers were killed in what the government said was a “terrorist Palestinian attack.” In cases like this, the death penalty could be imposed in the future, said Ben-Gvir.
According to Israeli sources, a Palestinian fired at the two Israelis’ cars in the town of Huwara, seriously injuring them. They died in the hospital. According to eyewitnesses, he is said to have worn a T-shirt with the sign of a local terrorist cell.
Summit in Jordan
The attack also overshadowed a meeting in Jordan at which representatives of Israel, the Palestinian Territories and other states discussed de-escalating the violence that had recently flared up again. The National Security Adviser and the head of the Shin Bet secret service attended for Israel, and the head of the secret service and adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas for the Palestinian side. Delegations from Egypt and the USA also traveled to the summit – a sign of how serious the situation before the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan at the end of March is assessed.
In a joint statement, both sides expressed their willingness to de-escalate the situation, prevent further violence and ultimately work towards a “just and lasting peace”. This was announced by the Foreign Ministry in Amman.
Israel agreed not to hold talks on new settlements in the Palestinian Territories for four months and not to approve new ones for six months. Both sides also agreed to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, under which Jews are not allowed to pray there, it said. For Muslims, the hill with the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in their faith after Mecca and Medina. The mountain is sacred to Jews because, according to tradition, it was home to the sacred ancient temples.
There will be another meeting in March – then in Egypt.
Dozens dead since the beginning of the year
Attacks in Israel have killed 13 people since the beginning of the year, including eight people in an attack near a synagogue. On the Palestinian side, more than 60 people died during the same period, either during raids by Israeli security forces or because they were shot after their own attacks.