Netanyahu-Backed Mandatory Death Penalty Bill Advances in Israeli Knesset Amid Coalition Threat

An Israeli parliamentary committee on Monday advanced a controversial bill that proposes the mandatory death penalty for "terrorists." The measure, strongly pushed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, has now been approved by the National Security Committee and will proceed to the full parliament for its first reading.

The proposed amendment to the penal code aims to "cut off terrorism at its root and create a heavy deterrent." Key stipulations of the bill include: The death penalty would be "not optional and without discretion" for a terrorist convicted of murder motivated by racism or hatred toward the public, under circumstances where the act was committed with the intent to harm the State of Israel.

The sentence could be imposed by a simple majority of judges and, critically, cannot be commuted once the ruling is handed down.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s hostages coordinator, Gal Hirsch, have both voiced support for the measure. Hirsch specifically noted his previous opposition was now irrelevant, stating that the law is an "additional tool" against terrorism now that "the hostages are now in Israel."

The political stability of the governing coalition now hangs on the bill's advancement. Minister Ben Gvir stated that he would instruct his party, Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), to withhold its votes from the coalition if the law is not voted on by Sunday, thereby threatening the government's survival.

Historically, the death penalty exists for a small number of crimes in Israel, but the country is considered a de facto abolitionist state. The last person executed was Nazi Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann in 1962.