Death Penalty News

But PM says legislation ‘not promising’ and ‘we don’t determine the punishment’; relatives of Achiad Ettinger accuse IDF soldiers of failing to open fire at terrorist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday paid a condolence call to the family of Rabbi Achiad Ettinger, who was killed in a combined shooting and stabbing terror attack in the northern West Bank on Sunday. During the visit in the central West Bank settlement of Eli, Netanyahu told the bereaved family he would attempt to legislate the death penalty for terrorists in Israel. “It’s not promising, it’s not promising,” he added, according to footage from the visit. Ettinger, a 47-year-old father of 12, succumbed to his injuries on Monday, a day after the attack that began at Ariel Junction, in which IDF soldier Gal Keidan, 19, was also killed. According to Israeli authorities, after fatally stabbing Keidan, the suspect, who has been named as Omar Abu Laila, 18, grabbed his gun and opened fire at passing ...

Jerusalem one of 123 nations voting for resolution hailing the ‘possibility of moving away from capital punishment through domestic decision-making’ As the Knesset advances controversial legislation calling for the death penalty for convicted terrorists, Israel this week voted in favor of a United Nations resolution calling for a global moratorium on capital punishment in an effort to abolish the practice altogether. Jerusalem on Tuesday was 1 of 123 countries that supported Resolution A/C.3/73/L.44, which “expresses its deep concern about the continued application of the death penalty” and “welcomes the steps taken by some states to reduce the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed.” 36 countries, including the US, opposed the motion. 30 abstained. The resolution, discussed biannually by the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, welcomes “initiatives and political leadership encouraging national discussions and debates on the possibility of m...

The legislation, promoted by Netanyahu and Defense Minister Lieberman, is facing sweeping professional objections from the security services The security cabinet is scheduled this week to consider a bill that would permit the death penalty for terrorists. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are promoting the bill, though the prime minister is less enthusiastic about it. The legislation is facing sweeping professional objections from the security services, however, making it doubtful that the bill will be passed. Lieberman and his party, Yisrael Beiteinu, have long supported the death penalty for terrorists, particularly in cases in which civilians are murdered. In early January, the Knesset gave its preliminary support for a bill sponsored by Knesset member Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beiteinu) that would no longer require the unanimous support of three–judge military court panels in the territories to sentence a terrorist to death. A regular ...

Yisrael Beytenu's death penalty for terrorists law approved by coalition leaders' forum and will be voted upon by the Knesset. Following the demand of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, the leaders of the coalition parties on Sunday evening approved the Yisrael Beytenu party’s bill mandating the death penalty for terrorists. The bill will be brought to a preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum. MK Robert Ilatov, Yisrael Beytenu Parliamentary Group Chairman, said, "Today is a historic day in the State of Israel. After years in which the Yisrael Beytenu party has been promoting the death penalty for terrorists and after it was rejected by the Knesset and the government, today the death penalty bill for terrorists has finally been approved by the coalition leaders' forum.” "The legislation should be very simple and very clear - a terrorist who comes to kill innocent civilians will be sentenced to death. No more convenient prison conditions, no more ...

Yisrael Beytenu's MK Robert Ilatov says legislation has been languishing in ministerial panel for nearly a month A Yisrael Beytenu lawmaker on Thursday urged coalition chairman David Bitan to advance legislation to apply the death penalty to convicted terrorists. In a letter, MK Robert Ilatov said the legislation - the advancement of which is detailed as a condition in the party's coalition agreements - has languished in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation since late October, when he revived the bill. "As you know, this is an important and essential item for Yisrael Beytenu and was one of the cornerstones for its entry into the government and coalition," Ilatov wrote. "Despite this, we see there are those in the coalition who are trying to dissolve this important issue." The party, headed by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, has long advocated introducing the death penalty for terrorists. The issue was one of its key campaign promis...

The death penalty for terrorists is part of the army’s legal code in the West Bank but requires discussion of the evidence even if the suspect confesses and a unanimous ruling by the judges in the lower and appellate court Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down a July request by the attorney general to seek cabinet approval for the death penalty for terrorists, but only two days later said publicly he was in favor of the death penalty for terrorists, people at the cabinet meeting told Haaretz. The death penalty for terrorists is part of the army’s legal code in the West Bank and has been on the books since the British Mandate that ended in 1948. A death penalty requires discussion of the evidence even if the suspect confesses, a unanimous ruling by the judges in the lower and appellate court, and the possibility of the military commander commuting the sentence. In the ‘80s, the military courts in the West Bank imposed the death penalty but it was never carried out...

MK Robert Ilatov says legislation needed to send a 'clear and unequivocal' message on punishment for terrorism Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu party said Tuesday it will revive legislation applying the death penalty to convicted terrorists after a deadly terror attack in the settlement of Har Adar earlier in the day. MK Robert Ilatov, who will submit the bill, said the legislation is necessary to deter future terrorists from carrying out attacks. "The legislation needs to be clear and unequivocal. A terrorist who comes with the goal of murdering innocent citizens - his sentence is death," said Ilatov in a statement Tuesday. Liberman and his Yisrael Beytenu party have long advocated introducing the death penalty for terrorists and the issue was one of the party's key campaign promises in the 2015 elections. While the proposed legislation has previously failed to garner sufficient support, Liberman expects Prime Ministe...

No matter how you look at it, the death penalty is barbaric and stupid and has been abolished in all civilized countries except for certain states in the United States (which are difficult to call civilized)... The whole world tensely followed developments as the days went by, then the hours and then the minutes. The world watched the condemned man, a resident of Qalqilyah, as he awaited his execution. He had been convicted of an act of terror. He bought a knife and murdered four members of a family in a nearby settlement. He acted alone in a fit of rage after his beloved cousin was shot and killed during a demonstration. This is an imaginary case. But it is very close to what might happen in a real case now ongoing. There is no capital punishment in Israel. It was abolished in the first years of the state, with the memory of the execution of the underground (“terrorists” as the British called them) still fresh. That was a moment of celebration, an uplifting one, and...

The Knesset A bill proposing an amendment to the Penal Law and the Anti-Terrorism Law, allowing the court to sentence to death terrorists who murdered innocent civilians will be added to the Knesset agenda soon by MK Nava Boker (Likud), Israel Hayom reported Wednesday. The bill proposes adding two new articles to the Penal Law, the first of which, 99 (a), states that “a person who committed acts of intentional killing in order to assist a terrorist organization or an enemy during hostilities carried out against Israel, following a call from a terrorist organization or an enemy state, whether the order to carry out the operation was given to him personally or he responded to a general and non-specific call to take violent action out of identification with a goal of the enemy or terrorist organization – will be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.” In a similar fashion, the amended articles which so far imposed only life imprisonment for acts of treason and/or terrorism,...

Halamish, where 3 people were killed by terrorist during a birthday celebration. The call to impose a death sentence on the terrorist who murdered three members of the Salomon family in Halamish once again raises the issue of the morality of the death penalty. The death penalty is murder. The state grants itself the right to take human life, with extreme psychological cruelty. It holds a person in custody and tells him that it intends to kill him at a certain time. That is terrifying; it’s sadism. How is the state better than the murderer himself? Murder is murder, even it is meted out as a legal sentence. Legal justification is a human act, just as the act of murder. This is not about absolute justice or divine justice. There is no such thing. This is impaired human justice. Sometimes humanity justifies murder. The motive for demanding the death sentence for the Halamish terrorist is, of course, national; political. The expectation is that the Jewish state will allow itself t...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Visiting bereaved Salomon family, PM says government’s position supports execution for ‘such a base murderer’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he supports the death penalty for the terrorist who killed three members of the Salomon family on Friday night. “The death penalty for terrorists –- it’s time to implement it in severe cases,” Netanyahu said in a conversation with family members of the victims, a video of which was posted on the prime minister’s Twitter account. “It’s anchored in the law. You need the judges to rule unanimously on it, but if you want to know the government’s position and my position as prime minister –- in a case like this, of a base murderer like this -– he should be executed. He should simply not smile anymore.” On Friday evening, 19-year-old Omar al-Abed, from a nearby West Bank village, burst in to the Salomon family’s house in the West Bank settlement of Halamish armed with a large kn...