A bill in Israel proposing the death penalty for "terrorists" has passed a first reading in the Knesset – pushing forward a measure that could be applied to Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis.
The amendment to the penal code, demanded by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was approved by 39 votes to 16 on Monday. It must pass a second and third reading before becoming law.
While the death penalty exists for a small number of crimes in Israel, the country has not executed anyone since 1962.
Mr Ben-Gvir had threatened to withdraw his Jewish Power party from Israel's governing coalition if the law was not put to a vote. “Jewish Power is making history. We promised and delivered. The death penalty law for terrorists has passed its first reading,” he said on X.
Israel has previously been criticised by human rights experts for using a broad definition of terrorism that includes Palestinian civil society groups and protesters. Israel's National Security Committee, which approved the bill, said in a statement that the "purpose is to cut off terrorism at its root and create a heavy deterrent".
"It is proposed that a terrorist convicted of murder motivated by racism or hatred towards the public and under circumstances where the act was committed with the intent to harm the state of Israel ... will be sentenced to the death penalty – mandatory," the committee said.
The advancement of the bill comes as an uneasy truce appears to hold between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Israel describes the group as "terrorists" and has spent two years trying to destroy it since the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023 with the Hamas attack on southern Israel.
On Monday, Israel's military chief Lt Gen Eyal Zamir called for a "systemic investigation" into Israeli failures that led to the October 7 attack, as the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drags its feet on establishing a state commission of inquiry. It comes after the publication of a report by an expert committee on the military's internal investigations into the attack.
"The expert committee's report presented today is a significant step towards achieving the comprehensive understanding that we, as a society and as an organisation, require," Lt Gen Zamir was quoted as saying in the report.
"However, to ensure that such failures never recur, a broader understanding is needed – one that encompasses the inter-organisational and inter-hierarchical interfaces that have not yet been examined. To that end, a broad and comprehensive systemic investigation is now necessary."
According to polls, a large number of Israelis across the political spectrum support the establishment of an inquiry to determine who is responsible for the failure to prevent the October 7 attack, the deadliest in Israel's history. But the government of Mr Netanyahu has so far refused to set one up, arguing it cannot be established before the end of the conflict.
On Monday, when pressed in parliament to clarify his position on the creation of a national commission, Mr Netanyahu accused the opposition of seeking to turn it into a "political tool". Instead, he suggested establishing an inquiry commission "based on broad national consensus" and modelled on what the US did after the 9/11 attacks – a proposal rejected immediately by the opposition.
