The mayor of an affluent Israeli city condemned a senior minister for distributing pins depicting a hangman’s noose, as the government’s push to expand the use of the death penalty against Palestinians gains momentum in Israel.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir distributed the pins to students at Handasaim Herzliya High School during a visit on Monday, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Herzliya's mayor, Yariv Fisher, said the “ugly incident […] represents the crossing of an educational, ethical and moral red line”.
"There are things that simply cannot happen within school walls, where many students are under the age of 18," he added.
School officials had told Mr Ben-Gvir’s representatives that distributing the pins would not be allowed, and instructed staff to confiscate them after they were handed out, according to the report.
The incident comes in the midst of Mr Ben-Gvir’s election campaign, during which he has boasted of his far-right agenda in videos that show him abusing Palestinian detainees and celebrating the destruction of Palestinian homes.
Israel has used the death penalty only twice in its history. Mr Ben-Gvir has pushed to use it against Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks. Mr Ben-Gvir’s party, Otzma Yehudit, defended his distribution of noose pins.
"Otzma Yehudit is proud to demonstrate to the young generation in schools the importance of deterrence against terrorism, without fear and without blinking," it said in a statement cited in The Jerusalem Post’s report. "A terrorist who comes to kill a Jew must die, period.”
In August, Mr Ben-Gvir unveiled plans to build an execution facility in a new wing for death row inmates at a prison in central Israel.
