An Israeli parliamentary committee on Monday advanced a bill proposing the death penalty for “terrorists”, a move pushed for by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
The National Security Committee approved the amendment to the penal code, which will now be passed on to the parliament for its first reading.
Israel’s hostages coordinator, Gal Hirsch, said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the measure.
Ben Gvir said he would stop his party Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) voting with the governing coalition if the law isn’t voted on by Sunday, threatening the government’s survival.
While the death penalty exists for a small number of crimes in Israel, it has become a de facto abolitionist country, with the Nazi Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann the last person to be executed in 1962.
A statement from the committee that includes the bill’s explanatory note says “its purpose is to cut off terrorism at its root and create a heavy deterrent.”
“It is proposed that a terrorist convicted of murder motivated by racism or hatred towards the public, and under circumstances where the act was committed with the intent to harm the State of Israel… will be sentenced to the death penalty — mandatory,” the statement said.
The rule, it said, was “not optional and without discretion”.
The text also proposes that the death penalty can be imposed by a majority of judges and the sentence cannot be commuted once the ruling is handed down.
– ‘Dangerous step’ –
Hirsch had previously opposed debating the bill citing concern for living captives held in Gaza.
“Since the hostages are now in Israel, this opposition is no longer relevant,” he said, according to the statement.
“The prime minister supports this proposal. I consider this law to be an additional tool in our arsenal against terrorism and for the release of hostages,” he added.
The bill was introduced by a lawmaker from Otzma Yehudit.
“There will be no room for discretion in this law,” Ben Gvir said on Monday, according to the statement.
“Any terrorist who is preparing to commit murder must know that there is only one punishment — the death penalty.”
Ben Gvir on Friday posted a video of himself standing over a row of Palestinian prisoners lying face down on the ground with their hands tied, in which he called for capital punishment.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian foreign ministry denounced the move, saying it was a “new form of escalating Israeli extremism and criminality against the Palestinian people”.
“It is a dangerous step aimed at continuing genocide and ethnic cleansing under the guise of legitimacy.”
Palestinian militant group Hamas also condemned the move, saying it “embodies the ugly fascist face of the rogue Zionist occupation and represents a blatant violation of international law”.
“We call upon the United Nations, the international community, and relevant human rights and humanitarian organisations to take immediate action to stop this brutal crime,” it added in a statement.
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