The Knesset gave preliminary approval on Wednesday for legislation that would make it easier for a court to impose a death sentence on defendants convicted of murder in terrorist attacks.
Israeli military courts, which handle cases involving Palestinians in the territories, already have the power to sentence terrorists to death, but this authority has never been invoked.
The only time Israel implemented its death penalty was when it executed convicted Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.
The amendment to the penal code will only become law pending three more Knesset readings. Currently, a death penalty can only be imposed if a panel of three military judges passes a sentence unanimously. If the amendment is adopted, a majority verdict would suffice.
In the preliminary vote, 52 coalition MKs supported the bill and 49 opposition MKs voted against it.
It was initially unclear whether the advocates of the bill would indeed manage to obtain a majority, so before the vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium to explain his considerations for supporting the bill.
Netanyahu, who phoned several ministers to come in and support the amendment in the plenum, said he became even more resolute in his support of the bill after visiting the Salomon family home in Halamish, where a terrorist murdered three family members in 2017.
"The family members who survived the terrible attack told me how the terrorist held a knife and slaughtered [their loved ones] with a smile on his face," Netanyahu told the plenum. "I've seen terrible things in my life, but I said we will change the existing law because in extreme circumstances, the rationale is simple: Whoever slaughters and laughs will not live out the rest of his life between prison walls but will be executed instead."
Shin Bet security agency officials warned, however, that sentencing terrorists to death could prompt a wave of kidnappings of Jews, both in Israel and abroad, in an effort to force prisoner exchanges. Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Eizenkot will present their positions on the matter at a cabinet meeting to be held before the bill is brought for its first reading.
When asked by MK Ahmed Tibi (Joint Arab List), who was filling in for Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, if he would apply this reasoning to Jewish terrorists convicted of killing Palestinians, Netanyahu said, "In principle, yes."
Meanwhile, Wednesday, Qadoura Fares, chairman of the Palestinian Prisoner Club that represents Palestinians jailed in Israel, denounced the vote as "an expression of the state of blindness and confusion in the policies of this fascist regime where extremist parties race to pass racist laws."
"While the world moves toward repealing the death penalty, Israel is working to ratify this law, which is directed against the Palestinians," Fares told said.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who was behind the amendment, rejected the logic espoused by security heads, who argue that the demolition of terrorists' homes deters attacks but the death penalty does not. He said he hoped that, after discussion in the cabinet, the government would decide to submit the terrorist execution bill for a first reading in the Knesset.
MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) said, "This is reckless legislation that is 100% political. We have to remember that the security establishment opposes the death sentence. The law currently allows the death sentence, but the security establishment opposes it and therefore it is not done."
Some coalition members also opposed the bill initially, including National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz. In a cabinet meeting before the vote, Lieberman slammed his hand on the table in response to Steinitz.
"We are all bound by the coalition agreement," he said.
When told by Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman that there was no coalition position on the matter, Lieberman yelled, "You're a liar!" and left the room. Netanyahu followed him to calm him down.
According to Steinitz, "The death sentence for terrorists is the worst damage we can do to Israeli public diplomacy."
In the end, however, Steinitz voted in favor of the bill, after Netanyahu promised him there would be another cabinet discussion before the subsequent vote on it.
After the preliminary reading passed in the Knesset, Lieberman declared that "this is an important day for Israeli deterrence in the war on terror. We stood by our word and the death sentence for terrorists bill passed its preliminary reading."
"This is our ethical and moral obligation to the bereaved families," he said, "to bring the murderous evil terrorists to justice. Jewish blood is not worthless. The vote in the Knesset represents a dramatic change of policy. Now we have the right to demand of the general and military prosecution to seek the death sentence for terrorists. We will not stop until we will finish the legislative process and pass the third reading."
