​The National Security Committee, chaired by MK Tzvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit), convened on Wednesday, January 14, and continued to prepare the Penal Bill (Amendment No. 159) (Death Penalty for Terrorists), 2025 for second and third readings. This is a bill sponsored by MK Limor Sonn Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit), to which a bill sponsored by MK Nissim Vaturi (Likud) was attached, as well as a bill sponsored by MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beitenu) and a group of far-right MKs.

Racist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit), wearing at the Knesset a pin shaped like a hangman’s noose, December 31, 2025 (Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

MK Aida Touma Sliman (Hadash) said during the debate, “I am adamantly opposed to the death penalty for one group or another. Has it been proven that because of a death sentence, someone was deterred from committing an offense for criminal motives or what is known as terrorism? This is a product of a desire for revenge, not deterrence, which has taken over part of Israeli society recently.”

In addition, Ori Narov, director of the Legal Department at the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), also voiced adamant opposition to the bill and to the death penalty as being diametrically opposed to the Jewish and basic values of democracy and equality. Avi Dabush, executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, said that there were many arguments in Judaism against the death penalty, and that everything possible must be done to avoid this penalty. “Leaders of many Jewish organizations in the United States from all denominations have come out unequivocally against the death penalty,” he said.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33132