NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
JERUSALEM: On Monday, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a law authorizing the death penalty for Palestinian terrorists convicted of deadly terrorism charges, provoking outrage in European countries and Israel’s opposition leader.
Lawmakers voted 62-47 in favor of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s bill to impose the death penalty by hanging. Ben Gvir and his group, Otzma Yehudit, proposed this measure.
Otzma Yehudit’s attorney, Tzvika Foghel, who chairs the National Security Committee and passed the bill to a subcommittee under his leadership, told Fox News Digital that Israelis are tired of policies of compromise and compromise.
NETANYAHU HAS BEGGED THE COURT TO AVOID PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP FROM ISRAEL AFTER RECEIVING PEOPLE’S TREATMENTS.
The opening meeting of the winter session of the Knesset is on Monday evening. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL)
“For many years we have been trying to please the whole world, even when we are killed on our streets. Since October 7, we have changed to a more violent way to be able to tell the truth in the future,” he said.
Foghel said the death penalty for terrorists is part of a wider change in Israel, driven by the realization that no other country is facing the truth in dealing with radical Islamic terrorism in Gaza, Lebanon, Judea and Samaria (West Bank), as well as in Yemen and Iran.
“The death penalty for terrorists who burned, raped, mutilated and tortured children and parents is the same punishment that the Nazis imposed,” he said.
Kaja Kallas, Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, said, “The EU has a firm position against the death penalty in all cases and in all circumstances. Israel has long supported the de facto suspension of both executions and the death penalty, thus leading by example in the region despite the complex security environment.”
He added, “The approval of the Death Penalty Bill by the Israeli Parliament represents a major step back from that practice and from Israel’s own responsibilities. We are deeply concerned about the discriminatory nature of this Bill.”
ANALYSTS SAY THE DEATH WAS OF ‘PEOPLE’ INCLUDING HAMAS, OTHER LAWFUL TERRORIST MEMBERS, MEDICAL PERSONNEL
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid speaks at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on October 13, 2025 in Jerusalem. ((Photo by Evelyn Hockstein – Pool/Getty Images))
Israel has used the death penalty only once in the state’s history on the great Nazi murderer Adolf Eichmann in 1962. The death penalty is on the books in Israel, but Israeli courts have limited leeway to apply for the death penalty for crimes beyond the punishment of Nazi war criminals.
Former Prime Minister and current leader of the Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid said the law is not wrong because it does not apply to Hamas terrorists who were involved in the massacre of October 7, 2023 that killed 1,200 people.
“This law is not a show of force; it’s a sign of panic. This law is more extreme than anything in the United States, and they know it will be enacted. It’s not a law of justice or prevention, a law of public relations,” he added.
Adolf Eichmann, in a bullet proof house, puts on earphones to hear the reading of his indictment, December 17, 1961. He oversaw the extermination of Jews in Poland and then organized the deportation and extermination of Jews in 13 European countries. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
Likud lawmaker Dan Illouz, a supporter of the law, told Fox News Digital that the events of October 7 underscored, in his view, the need to prevent terrorists from viewing civilian abductions as an effective way to secure the release of imprisoned soldiers.
“The death penalty destroys that figure. It acts as a great deterrent, ensuring that terrorists know that their actions lead only to their death, not the negotiated release. We are a nation that loves life, but in order to protect life, we must deal firmly with those who want to destroy it,” he said.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s vote in favor was important. It sends an unmistakable message of strength and moral clarity from the very top of Israel’s leadership. By casting his vote in person, the Prime Minister has shown our enemies, and the rest of the world, that our government is completely united and unwavering in our resolve to end terrorism and protect our citizens,” he added.
MICHIGAN SYNAGOGUE BUILDER WAS INSPIRED BY HEZBOLLAH, WANTED TO KILL MANY JEWS BY FORCE: FEDS
Israel Channel 12 political analyst Amit Segal wrote that he supports “killing terrorists who try to kill civilians – especially the monsters of October 7,” but criticized Ben Gvir’s law.
He wrote in his newspaper, “The law defines terrorism as acts of ‘opposition to the existence of the state,’ a definition that can apply to groups such as extremist Haredi groups and violent members of the ‘Hilltop Youth’ (supported by Ben-Gvir.)
Hamas terrorists killed civilians, including women, children and the elderly, when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
Segal said that “although Ben-Gvir’s law is a covert campaign, a more responsible law is going through the process. Proposed by MKs Simcha Rotman and Yulia Malinovsky, this law establishes effective methods – procedural and evidential – to find the crimes of terrorists in Nukhba, after which the death penalty will be issued.”
Another Likud lawmaker, Amit Halevi, told Fox News Digital that the key element of the law is the distinction between criminal charges and crimes against the government or individuals.
“The terrorist commits his crime as part of an ideology aimed at killing, oppressing and controlling all Jews. These terrorists, if they could, would kill all of us. They are mental killers, in a different category from ordinary criminals, and that is the critical point of the bill,” he said.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrives at a cabinet meeting at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on August 27, 2023. (MENAHEM KAHANA/Pool via REUTERS)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
Halevi added that more efforts are needed to clarify crimes against the government, including what falls under that category and what does not.
“In general, this law is a step in the right direction. Most of the criticism I hear is related to common criminals. People don’t understand the enemy – who they are and what this war is about,” he said.
