Israel | Bill to impose death penalty on convicted terrorists gains traction in the Knesset

The legislation is expected to be brought before the Knesset plenum for a preliminary vote this week.

A bill to impose the death penalty on convicted terrorist murderers is expected to advance in the Knesset this week after gaining the backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, Jerusalem’s coordinator for the captives and missing, told lawmakers on Monday morning that the premier withdrew his opposition to the bill after the last living hostages taken to the Gaza Strip by Hamas terrorists were released.

Hirsch addressed members of the Knesset National Security Committee ahead of an initial vote on the legislation in the parliament’s plenum on Wednesday, public broadcaster Kan Reshet Bet radio reported.

“In the previous discussion, I expressed strong opposition to holding the debate and addressing the issue because of the danger it posed to the lives of the hostages,” Hirsch said. “But today the reality is different, and therefore my opposition on this matter is no longer relevant.

“The prime minister’s position is in favor of the proposed law. I see it as a tool in the toolbox in the fight against terror,” the official continued.

On Sept. 28, the National Security Committee voted to advance the legislation, which was introduced by Otzma Yehudit Party member Limor Son Har-Melech despite warnings that the move could endanger the captives.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads the Otzma Yehudit Party, confirmed at the time that Netanyahu’s office had asked him to postpone the vote.

However, he continued, “Before passing the budget, the prime minister pledged his government would support the death penalty for terrorists.” Hamas should know that “if even a single hair on a hostage’s head is harmed … precisely at this time the death penalty is needed.”

On Oct. 13, Hamas released the remaining 20 living captives it took on Oct. 7, 2023, as part of the U.S.-brokered truce deal in the Gaza Strip.

Mandatory death sentence

According to the bill advanced by the Knesset committee, “a terrorist who is convicted of murder out of motives of racism or hostility toward the public, and under circumstances in which the act was carried out with the intention of harming the State of Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in its land, shall be sentenced to death.”

The proposed law states that convicted terrorists would face a mandatory death sentence, with no room for judicial discretion.

However, Hirsch requested on Monday that the bill be amended so that the coordinator for the captives and missing would have the right to submit a confidential report to the court before it imposes the death penalty.

On Oct. 7, 2023, some 6,000 Gazan terrorists infiltrated the Jewish state, murdering some 1,200 people, wounding thousands and kidnapping 251.

Security officials also told the committee they support the legislation in principle, but stressed the need for judicial discretion, Arutz 7 reported.

Ben-Gvir responded, “There will be no discretion in this law; that is my position and my belief. The moment you allow discretion, you weaken the deterrent effect.”

He added, “Every terrorist who goes out to kill must know they will face only one punishment—the death penalty.”

Thanking Netanyahu for his support, Ben-Gvir, in a social media post following the committee meeting, stressed again that in his view, “the court must not have any discretion—every terrorist who goes out to murder must know that only the death penalty will be imposed on him.

“It’s time to do justice!” added the Cabinet minister.

Though Israel does allow for the death penalty for murder committed by the Nazis and their helpers, as well as for treason, it has only been used twice.

IDF officer Meir Tobianski was executed in 1948 on treason charges. He was later exonerated. SS officer and Nazi Party official Adolf Eichmann was executed in Jerusalem in 1962 for his role in the Holocaust.

On Oct. 7, 2023, in the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, some 6,000 Gazan terrorists infiltrated the Jewish state, murdering some 1,200 people, wounding thousands and kidnapping 251.

Source: JNS, Staff, November 3, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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