Israel | Heated debate in Knesset over mandatory death penalty for terrorists

Israel’s Knesset National Security Committee on Tuesday advanced preparations for legislation that would expand the use of the death penalty for convicted terrorists, holding a charged debate that exposed deep divisions between security officials, legal authorities, lawmakers, and bereaved families.

The discussion focused on two proposed amendments to Israel’s Penal Law that would make it easier to impose capital punishment in cases of severe terrorist attacks. Israel formally retains the death penalty in limited statutes, including for crimes against humanity and genocide, but it has been carried out only once since the state’s founding, making the move highly controversial domestically and internationally.

In a significant development, a representative of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) told lawmakers that the agency now supports the bill in principle, marking a shift from its longstanding opposition. Speaking by video link, the official said, “Our position is that the death penalty for terrorists has potential advantages but also potential disadvantages.” He added, “We support the bill on the condition that it will not be a mandatory punishment, with discretion.”

The Shin Bet official stressed that deterrence effects are complex, warning that executions can sometimes provoke retaliatory attacks. However, he said the security landscape has changed since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. “The threat posed today from the Gaza Strip is completely different,” he said, adding that greater Israeli control over prisoners has reduced previous concerns about backlash. “Imposing the death penalty on terrorists can contribute” to deterrence, he said, provided authorities retain discretion.

Emotions ran high among relatives of terror victims. Koby Samarno, whose son Yonatan’s body was taken to Gaza, told lawmakers, “I would not be sitting here and 1,200 other families would not have lost their loved ones if terrorists had been sentenced to death even before the October Seven tragedy.” Another bereaved family member, Nati Smadar, said bluntly, “I don’t care what the world says about us giving terrorists the death penalty.”

The Ministry of Justice presented a sharply opposing view. Lilach Wagner, head of the ministry’s penal and serious crime cluster, warned that the proposal raises constitutional, moral, and international law concerns. “Punishment by executing a person is an extreme and irreversible punishment,” she said, noting documented cases of wrongful convictions abroad. Citing the United States, she said, “222 prisoners sentenced to death were acquitted.”

Wagner also warned the bill could expose Israel to intensified international criticism and legal challenges, including claims of non-compliance with human rights conventions. She objected to provisions that would make the death penalty mandatory in certain cases in Judea and Samaria, saying, “Such a requirement does not even exist in the US and is contrary to the position of the professional bodies.” She concluded, “In our opinion, the proposed legislation should not be advanced.”

Opposition MK Gilad Kariv of the Labor Party questioned the process, asking for written Shin Bet assessments and alternatives to mandatory sentencing. Public Defender representatives also criticized what they called vague and contradictory security justifications.

Committee chair MK Zvika Fogel of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party vowed to advance the legislation. “The bill imposing the death penalty on terrorists will not be a ‘dead letter,’” he said. “We cannot ignore the reality that is changing before our eyes.” Fogel argued that elected lawmakers must respond to public demand for stronger deterrence, saying the bill “tells the next terrorist what he is going to face.”

The bills are now being prepared for further readings in the Knesset.

The only individual ever executed by Israel was Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi architect of the Holocaust. He was hanged in 1962, and his ashes were scattered at sea after he was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.

An Israeli court sentenced John Demjanjuk to death in 1988 for crimes against humanity committed while working at various concentration camps. However, Israel’s Supreme Court overturned the sentence in 1993.

Israel eventually extradited Demjanjuk, who was later convicted in Germany as an accessory to the murder of more than 28,000 Jews at the Sobibor death camp. Demjanjuk died in Germany while appealing that conviction.

Source: jwire.com.au, Pesach Benson, January 21, 2026

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

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

Kansas AG urges governor to deny clemency to 8 sentenced to death

TOPEKA — Attorney General Kris Kobach on Tuesday urged the governor to deny clemency to Kansas inmates who have been sentenced to death. Eight of nine people sentenced to death in Kansas formally filed clemency requests in May, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office. Kobach urged Gov. Laura Kelly to reject them.

Gov. Mike DeWine calls for Ohio to abolish the death penalty

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Gov. Mike DeWine Tuesday morning called on Ohio to abolish the death penalty, citing data that he said proves it is no longer a deterrent to violent crime. “For the state to take a human life, there must, in my opinion, there must be evidence that in doing so it will help protect the public, that the threat of that action will deter someone from committing murder,” DeWine said. “I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made.” DeWine cited data showing a decline in the last four decades of executions being carried out and an increase in the time inmates spend on death row.

I watched Ohio's last execution. Here's what it was like

As Gov. DeWine calls for Ohio to end capital punishment, the state’s last execution remains the one I witnessed in 2018 Inside Ohio's death house, there is a room for executions and separate witness rooms: one for those connected to the victim and another for those connected to the inmate. Windows separate the death chamber from those watching, the condemned from the living. I was there on July 18, 2018 – during Ohio’s most recent execution. Robert Van Hook was put to death that day for killing David Self in 1985. He sat on death row for three decades. I was one of three media witnesses to the execution.

SCOTUS: Alabama can’t execute Jeffery Lee by nitrogen; Thursday execution called off

After a week of legal volleyball, Alabama death row inmate Jeffery Lee’s execution—scheduled for Thursday evening—was called off after federal courts called the state’s nitrogen gas execution method “likely unconstitutional.” The state took the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping Lee could still be put to death tonight. In an order issued at 8:10 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that it would not lift a ban on Alabama executing Lee via nitrogen . In a short court order, the justices denied Alabama’s motion to go ahead with the execution. Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch would have granted the appeal and let the execution proceed, according to the order.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A billboard standing on Interstate 55 southbound as you cross the Tennessee state line and enter Mississippi from Memphis is sending a grim message to those coming into the state. DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton recently announced the new billboard campaign, which features the sign reading, “WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI. WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD IS LEGAL. THINK TWICE.” It references Mississippi’s law permitting execution by firing squad under certain circumstances for inmates sentenced to death. Barton says this campaign is aimed at deterring violent crime and sends a direct message to criminals entering Mississippi.

With nitrogen gas blocked, Alabama seeks to execute inmate by lethal injection

Jeffery Lee, who successfully challenged his scheduled Thursday execution by nitrogen gas, argued that execution by firing squad would be less painful. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office Friday sought to put an Alabama death row inmate to death by lethal injection a day after the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed the state’s attempt to execute him by nitrogen gas. In a filing with the Alabama Supreme Court Friday afternoon, the state sought an expedited motion to set a new execution date for Jeffery Lee, 49. The state said that with a permanent injunction in place against nitrogen gas, the method by which the state intended to execute Lee on Thursday, it could execute him by lethal injection or the electric chair.

Alabama | Judge bars nitrogen gas execution, says method is unconstitutionally cruel

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas after declaring it violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks issued the ruling hours after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the method was constitutional. Marks permanently enjoined the state from executing Jeffrey Lee, 49, by nitrogen gas. He was scheduled to be executed Thursday. The decision, for now, blocks the use of the controversial new execution method that the state has championed since 2024, but the issue will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Idaho will soon turn to firing squad executions. Police will pull the triggers

Trained members of Idaho law enforcement with demonstrated firearms proficiency are expected to fill slots for carrying out the death penalty by firing squad as the state prison system transitions to the controversial execution method next month. Six volunteers certified for no less than three years apiece through Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, will be recruited to ensure the Idaho Department of Correction is ready to comply with a state law that prioritizes shooting prisoners to death over lethal injection starting July 1. No one on the team may have faced disciplinary action over firearms, use of force, or related conduct over the prior year, according to new execution protocols the prison system released this week.

Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch wanted an execution that a Trump judge deemed illegal

The Supreme Court these days is generally in the business of helping executions go forward. But on Thursday night, the court did something notable: It told Alabama no. Even then, the court wasn't unanimous. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the refusal to let the nitrogen gas execution of Jeffery Lee proceed. What prompted the rare rejection? In line with the typical shadow docket practice, the court didn't explain itself. Nor did the dissenters, who merely noted their disagreement. But a deeper look at the case helps us understand why a majority of the court was unwilling to help the state this time.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog