39 votes “in favor”, 16 votes “against”. Late Monday, Israeli deputies approved the first reading of a controversial bill backed by the government and proposed by the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish, right-wing anti-Palestinian and Arab Forces) party, which aims to impose the death penalty on terrorists who have killed Israeli citizens.
Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, who chairs Otzma Yehudit, threatened to stop the majority vote in favor of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) if this proposal was not put to a vote in the Knesset.
The draft proposes that “anyone who intentionally or through callousness causes the death of an Israeli citizen for reasons of racism or hostility towards a community, and with the aim of harming the State of Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in his country, shall be punished by death.” The agreement does not stipulate that Israelis who kill Palestinians for similar reasons will face the death penalty.
Additionally, judges serving in West Bank military courts will be allowed to impose death sentences with a majority vote, rather than a unanimous vote of the three. The bill would also remove the ability of regional military commanders to commute those sentences to life in prison.
“The law providing for the death penalty for terrorists (…) is a moral and national expression of a society that refuses to accept a reality where murderers of Jews live in prison and expect regulation,” said Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech, who chaired the session, and supports, like his party, the expulsion of all Arabs from Israel and the creation of a religious Jewish state.
The death penalty has only been used once since the founding of Israel
The voting results were far below those in March 2023, months before the Oct. 7 terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on Israeli civilians. The deputies have voted, with 55 votes “in favor” and 9 votes “against” in favor of executing Palestinians who kill Jews because they are Jews. The agreement has not advanced beyond the first reading stage despite being part of a coalition agreement between Netanyahu’s Likud Party and Otzma Yehudit after October 7. Parts of the Israeli government and security services fear that implementation of this agreement will delay negotiations for the release of the hostages.
All deputies from Benny Gantz’s Bleu et Blanc (centre right) and all members of opposition leader Yaïr Lapid’s Yesh Atid party (centre), except one, abstained on Monday evening.
Rabbi Dov Lando, spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah (far right) party, which has three deputies in the Knesset, warned that the bill “could lead to bloodshed”.
Three Arab deputies were expelled during the debate at the request of Son Har-Melech, the first during an aggressive verbal exchange with a coalition deputy who interrupted his speech, the second during an argument with Ben Gvir, who almost came to blows with the deputy.
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After the vote, Ben Gvir distributed baklava to MK members until Knesset court officials confiscated the baklava. The distribution of these cakes is sometimes seen on Palestinian streets to celebrate deadly attacks on Israelis.
Although the death penalty officially exists in Israeli law, it has only been applied once, in 1962, in the case of Nazi figure Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust. This is technically allowed in cases of high treason, as well as in certain circumstances under the martial law in force in the West Bank, but currently requires a unanimous decision by a panel of three judges and has never been implemented.
Votes on second and third readings are still needed for the text to become law.
The vote in the Knesset comes as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on October 10 under pressure from the United States, remains fragile. On November 3, when the committee voted on the text, Hamas called it a “flagrant violation of international law,” and called on “the United Nations, the international community and relevant human rights and humanitarian organizations to take immediate action to stop this brutal crime.” The Palestinian Authority condemned “dangerous steps aimed at continuing genocide and ethnic cleansing under the guise of legitimacy”.
