Advertisement

Israel has taken a big step to introduce the death penalty

The Israeli parliament has taken a first step towards amending the criminal code and making the death sentence more possible for certain offences.
The Israeli parliament has taken a first step towards amending the criminal code and making the death sentence more possible for certain offences.

Israel is reportedly close to introducing the death penalty, after politicians voted in favour of a bill that will make it easier for military courts to sentence terrorists to death.

A vote held in The Knesset on Wednesday was approved by a close margin of 52-49, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming that the death penalty is ‘justice in extreme situations’.

He specifically pointed to a 2017 massacre in the West Bank in which three Israelis were stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorrist.

19-year-old Omar Al-Abed al-Jali killed father Yosef Salomon, his daughter Chaya and son Elad before being arrested by police.

Most popular on Yahoo News UK

The biggest revelations about Donald Trump’s White House from explosive new book
Bearded builder dubbed a ‘terrorist’ by Prince Philip says: ‘He was having a laugh’
Back on the streets only half an hour after giving birth: the tragic lives of Hull’s sex workers
Nigerian prince email scammer ‘is an American pensioner living in Louisiana’
Woman nearly blinded after glitter from a Christmas card gets in her eye

The massacre has prompted several Israeli ministers to call for the reintroduction of the death penalty.

Politician Robert Ilatov, who proposed the bill, said: ‘We have a moral obligation to the people of Israel.

‘When terrorists sitting in Israeli prisons end up going free [in prisoner exchanges], I think the most moral thing is for [terrorists] to get the death penalty.’

Benjamin Netanyahu has backed the bill
Benjamin Netanyahu has backed the bill

Although it has received widespread support, the bill has also received opposition from certain Jewish politicians who have asked for the vote to be postponed in order to seek the advice of rabbis.

Israel has only ever previously carried out the death penalty twice – once in 1948 for Meir Tobianski who was wrongly accused of treason and in 1962 for Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.