Terrorism could soon be subject to the death penalty in Israel. According to media reports, the Israeli government initiated a corresponding legislative project on Sunday. 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 population group” and if this is done with the purpose of “the state Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in their homeland”.
According to the information, the law provides for a special solution for the West Bank, which is occupied by Israel: Here, corresponding judgments would be made by the military court and would not require the unanimous opinion of the judges. How the death penalty is to be carried out remains unclear for the time being. The draft law is to be discussed for the first time in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, next Wednesday. The new law is intended to “cut off terrorism at its roots and create a strong deterrent,” says the text accompanying the draft.
Meanwhile, media reported that two Israelis were killed in a suspected Palestinian attack in the West Bank. According to the Israeli army, an attacker opened fire on the occupants of an Israeli vehicle near an intersection south of the city of Nablus. Soldiers were therefore looking for the perpetrator or perpetrators. Eleven Palestinians were killed and more than 100 injured in an Israeli military operation in Nablus on Thursday.
Attorney General has doubts about proposed legislation
Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir defended the death penalty bill in a joint statement: “This is a moral law and it is appropriate: if it can exist in the world’s largest democracy, it will certainly exist in a country in which a wave of terror sweeps away Israeli citizens.” Ben Gvir went on to say that on such a difficult day of a terrorist attack, there is nothing more symbolic than a death penalty law for terrorists. Netanyahu said his government would “continue to use all avenues to deter terrorists.”
The Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara had previously expressed doubts about the validity of such a law. It does not meet the constitutional requirements. In addition, it cannot be extended to the West Bank, since Israeli law has not yet applied there. In addition, Baharav-Miara questioned the deterrent effect of the death penalty on suspected terrorists.
Violence had recently escalated in the West Bank. After Israeli military operations, there were repeated rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, to which Israel responded with shelling.