The Political-Security cabinet was set to convene on Wednesday, 13 Menachem Av, to discuss the death penalty for terrorists, after it has been postponed several times in the past and is causing controversy among the ministers opposed to it.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday morning that “the death penalty law for terrorists is finally coming to a decision. I am sure that my cabinet colleagues understand that we need all the means in the war on terror,” he wrote in his Twitter account.
According to the bill, a military court can hand down a death sentence with a simple majority rather than unanimously, in a three-judge panel, as is currently required. The proposal also states that it will not be possible to appeal the death sentence. According to the bill, the main change in the law would be the ability to make a decision without the guidance of the government or the defense minister, but on the basis of two out of three judges.
סוף סוף חוק עונש מוות למחבלים עולה להכרעה. אני בטוח שעמיתי השרים מבינים שאנו זקוקים לכל האמצעים במלחמה בטרור. מחבל ששוחט משפחה לא צריך לחזור הביתה. אין סיבה שנהיה נאורים יותר מארצות הברית ויפן במלחמה בטרור.
— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) July 25, 2018
At the beginning of January, the Knesset plenum approved an amendment to the law seeking to impose the death penalty on terrorists by a majority of 52 to 49. Following the debate that broke out among cabinet ministers over the approval of the bill, it was said that a cabinet decision was needed before the coalition would advance the proposal.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, “I said we would hold a cabinet discussion and there the decision would be made. I found out today that there is no legal need for a cabinet decision, but it is appropriate for the government to hold such a meeting, and we will do so between the preliminary reading and the first reading [of the bill].”
When Netanyahu came to speak from the Knesset plenum to support the bill, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset MK (Arab List) Ahmed Tibi asked him, “Will the law also apply to those who burned the children in Duma?” Netanyahu replied: “In principle Yes”.
Netanyahu said that a few weeks ago he went to comfort the Salmon family that survived the terrible attack in Neve Tzuf. There they told him “how the terrorist grabbed the knife, slaughtered and laughed.”
“People commit terrible crimes and do not deserve to live”, added the prime minister.
“I’ve seen some shocking things in my life, but I was shocked,” continued Netanyahu. “I said there are extreme situations where people commit terrible crimes and do not deserve to live, and I said that we will change the law for these situations.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
It’s about time.
The problem with this law is what happens when a you goes crazy # like what happened with yidden burning the Palestinian in Duma, and could be prosecuted for death. It is assur gamur for yidden without a sanhedrin to kill another yid, especially for killing a ainuy yehudi.
Comments?
No no, this is a very bad idea. The obvious problem is the one Tibi hit on the head. This opens the door for jewish ‘terrorists’ to be killed by a jewish state, without any halachic right. Very, very bad.
If you consider the Balfour Declaration to have abrogated the sh’vuah of not making aliyah like a wall, one could argue that the Medinah is declaring such actions to be “Mored B’Malchus”. You do not need a Sanhedrin for that. You do not need to be Malchus Beis Dovid. See Achav HaRasha- to prevent a revolt, Izevel, Yimach Shema, made everything in Navos’s trial appear “Halachic”. This included accusations of “Mored B’Malchus”. Yet Achav HaRasha was Melech Shomron, and if somebody HAD cursed him, he could have executed him as “Mored B’Malchus”