Israel prepares to pass death penalty law against those it describes as ‘terrorists’

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Yemen – Agencies

In preliminary reading, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved, Monday, November 3, 2025, a bill imposing the death penalty on those it describes as “terrorists”, a proposal pushed by the extremist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir.

The Knesset National Security Committee approved the amendment to the relevant penal code, and it will at this stage be sent back to Parliament for its first reading.

In this context, Ben Gvir threatened to prevent his “Otzma Yehudit” (Jewish Power) party from voting in favor of the ruling coalition if the bill proposed by a party member was not put to a vote before Sunday, which threatens the stability of the government.

It should be noted that the death penalty exists in Israeli law, but for a limited number of crimes, but Israel is one of the countries that has actually abolished its application, as the last person to be executed there was the participant in the crimes of the Jewish Holocaust, Adolf Eichmann, in 1962.

A statement issued by the committee in the bill’s explanatory memorandum said “its aim is to root out terrorism from its roots and create a powerful deterrent.”

The statement continued: “It is proposed that any terrorist found guilty of committing a murder motivated by racism or hatred against the public, and in circumstances showing that the act was committed with the intent to harm the State of Israel, be sentenced to death…with the mandatory penalty of death, without option or discretion of the court. »

The bill also states that the sentence can be imposed by a majority of judges and cannot be commuted or replaced once it has finally been handed down.

Gal Hirsch, coordinator of the Israeli hostage file in the negotiations, said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the measure.

He continued, according to the statement: “Since the hostages are now in Israel, this objection is no longer relevant. » He continued: “The Prime Minister supports this proposal and I consider this law as an additional tool in our arsenal against terrorism and to free hostages.”

Ben Gvir said Monday, according to the statement, “There will be no room for discretion in this law. Any terrorist preparing to commit murder must know that there is only one punishment, which is death.”

On Friday, Ben Gvir released a video clip showing him standing over a row of Palestinian detainees lying face down with their faces turned to the ground and their hands tied, in which he calls for the death penalty.

In Ramallah, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry denounced the bill, considering it “a new form of exacerbation of Israeli extremism and criminality against the Palestinian people.”

In a statement published Monday evening by the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa), the ministry considered that the bill constitutes “a dangerous measure aimed at continuing genocide and ethnic cleansing with the appearance of legitimacy.”

For its part, the Hamas movement in Gaza considers the decision “as an embodiment of the ugly fascist face of the rogue Zionist occupation, and a further violation of international laws of occupation, in particular the provisions of international humanitarian law and the Third Geneva Convention.”

In a statement, the movement called on “the United Nations, the international community and relevant humanitarian and human rights institutions to take urgent measures to put an end to this brutal crime and to form international committees to enter detention centers, examine the conditions of Palestinian prisoners and uncover the atrocities committed there under the official supervision of the occupation authorities.”

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