JERUSALEM: Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a law on Monday that would require the death penalty for Palestinian terrorists convicted of deadly acts of terrorism. This has sparked anger among European countries and an Israeli opposition leader.
Lawmakers voted 62-47 in favor of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s legislation calling for the death penalty by hanging. Ben Gvir and his party, Otzma Yehudit, proposed the measure.
NETANYAHU URGES COURT TO REVOKE ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP FROM PALESTINIANS AFTER CONVICTIONS FOR VIOLENT CRIMES
The opening meeting of the Knesset’s winter session on Monday evening. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL)
“For too many years we have tried to please the whole world, even when we were being killed in the streets. Since October 7, we have switched to an offensive approach so that we can dictate the reality in the future,” he said.
Foghel said the death penalty for terrorists is part of a broader shift in Israel, driven by the recognition that no other country faces a reality in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism in Gaza, Lebanon, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), as well as in Yemen and Iran.
“The death penalty for terrorists who burned, raped, mutilated and abused children and parents is the same punishment we instituted for the Nazis,” he said.
Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said: “The EU has a principled position against the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances. Israel has long maintained a de facto moratorium on both executions and the death penalty, leading by example in the region, despite a complex security environment.”
She added: “The adoption of the Death Penalty Bill by the Israeli parliament marks a serious regression from that practice and from Israel’s own obligations. We are deeply concerned about the de facto discriminatory nature of the bill.”
ANALYZES SAY GAZA IS SUBJECT TO ‘CITIZENS’ DEATHS, HAMAS, OTHER TERROR MEMBERS WHO WORK AS MEDICALS, AND MEDIA WORKERS
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid speaks in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on October 13, 2025 in Jerusalem. ((Photo by Evelyn Hockstein – Pool/Getty Images))
Israel has used the death penalty only once in the state’s history on Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann, in 1962. The death penalty exists on the books in Israel, but Israeli courts have limited leeway to apply execution to cases beyond punishment for Nazi war criminals.
Former Prime Minister and current leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, said the legislation is fundamentally flawed because it does not apply to Hamas terrorists involved in the October 7, 2023 massacre that killed 1,200 people.
“This law is not a show of force; it is a sign of panic. This law is more extreme than anything in the United States, and they know it will be struck down by law. It is not a law for justice or for deterrence, it is a law for public relations,” he added.
In a bulletproof hut, Adolf Eichmann puts on headphones to listen to the reading of the accusation against him on December 17, 1961. He presided over the extermination of Jews in Poland and then organized the deportation and extermination of Jews in 13 European countries. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
“The death penalty breaks that equation. It serves as the ultimate deterrent, ensuring that terrorists know that their actions will only lead to their own demise, not a negotiated release. We are a nation that loves life, but to protect life we must act decisively against those who seek to destroy it,” he said.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s vote was crucial. It projects an unmistakable message of strength and moral clarity from the top of Israel’s leadership. By personally casting his vote, the Prime Minister showed our enemies, and the entire world, that our government is fully united and unyielding in our determination to eradicate terrorism and defend our citizens,” he added.
MICHIGAN SYNAGOGUE ATTACKER WAS INSPIRED BY HEZBOLLAH, WANTED TO KILL AS MANY JEWISH PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE: FEDS
Channel 12’s Israeli political commentator Amit Segal wrote that he is in favor of “executing terrorists who try to kill civilians – especially the October 7 monsters” but was critical of Ben Gvir’s legislation.
He wrote in his newsletter: ‘The law defines terrorism as acts ‘to deny the existence of the state’, a definition that could apply to groups such as extremist charedi factions and violent members of the ‘Hilltop Youth’ (which Ben-Gvir supports).
Hamas terrorists killed civilians, including women, children and the elderly, when they attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. (Israeli Armed Forces via AP)
Segal said that “although Ben-Gvir’s law is essentially a campaign stunt, a more responsible law is working its way through the system. The law, proposed by MPs Simcha Rotman and Yulia Malinovsky, establishes the practical mechanisms – procedural and evidentiary – to secure convictions of Nukhba terrorists, after which the death penalty can be imposed.”
“A terrorist commits his crimes as part of an ideology aimed at killing, oppressing and controlling all Jews. These terrorists, if they could, would kill every one of us. They are ideological killers, in a different category from ordinary criminals, and that is a crucial point of the bill,” he said.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrives for a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on August 27, 2023. (MENAHEM KAHANA/Pool via REUTERS)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Halevi added that further efforts are needed to clearly define crimes against the state, including what falls within that category and what does not.
“Overall, this legislation is a step in the right direction. Much of the criticism I hear concerns common criminals. People don’t understand the enemy – who he is and what this war is about,” he said.
