As of: 02/26/2023 6:27 pm
Israel’s government is working to introduce the death penalty for terrorism in cases like the recent attack in the West Bank that killed two Israeli settlers. The attack also overshadowed a summit in Jordan.
Israel’s right-wing religious government has introduced the death penalty for terrorist crimes. Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, said the cabinet took a decision to that effect on Sunday. The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is due to discuss the issue for the first time on Wednesday.
According to the bill, anyone who “deliberately or recklessly causes the death of an Israeli citizen, if the act is committed with a racist motive or out of hatred against a certain group of people” and if this “with the aim of destroying the state, hurting Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in their homeland”.
In the Israeli-occupied areas of the West Bank, there should be a special solution: death sentences would be handed down here by military courts, whose judges would not need to decide unanimously.
It remains to be seen 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 Otzmah Jehudit (Jewish Force) party, a 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 the Jewish people, and war. It has only been held once since 1954: in 1962, Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann was executed after his trial in Jerusalem.
Attorney General: Bill unconstitutional
Israel’s attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, criticized the new law and called it unconstitutional. Furthermore, the law cannot be extended to the West Bank because Israeli law has not yet been 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 to weaken the Supreme Court – in the future, parliament should be able to overturn court decisions, for example, on unconstitutional laws.
Netanyahu and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is also leader of Otzmah Jehudit’s party, defended the plans: “This is a moral law and it is appropriate: if it can exist in the largest democracy in the world, certainly in a country in that a wave of terror is sweeping through Israeli citizens.”
Two Israelis shot dead in 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 “Palestinian terrorist attack”. In cases like this, the death penalty could be imposed in the future, Ben-Gvir said.
According to Israeli sources, a Palestinian fired at the cars of the two Israelis in the town of Huwara, seriously injuring them. They died in the hospital. According to eyewitnesses, he would have worn a T-shirt with the symbol of a local terrorist cell.
summit in jordan
The attack also overshadowed a meeting in Jordan at which representatives from Israel, the Palestinian Territories and other states discussed reducing the violence that recently flared up again. National Security Advisor and the head of the Shin Bet secret service attended for Israel, and the head of secret service and adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas for the Palestinian side. Egyptian and US delegations also traveled to the summit – a sign of the seriousness of the situation ahead of the start of the fasting month of Ramadan at the end of March.
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”. The announcement was made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Amman.
Israel has agreed not to hold negotiations 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 cannot pray there, he 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 the Jews because, according to tradition, it housed the ancient holy 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 start of the year, including eight people in an attack near a synagogue. On the Palestinian side, more than 60 people died in the same period, either during raids by Israeli security forces or because they were shot after their own attacks.