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Knesset Panel Weighs Death Penalty Bill as Far-Right MKs Wear Noose Pins

A research report on execution methods guided the committee’s debate over a proposal expected to face Supreme Court petitions.

Overview

  • The National Security Committee held a second discussion on legislation to impose capital punishment on terrorists, with chair Tzvika Foghel presiding.
  • Members of Otzma Yehudit, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, attended wearing noose-shaped pins to signal support for rapid passage.
  • The bill’s draft limits application to murders of Jews, mandates a simple-majority decision, bars appeals or mitigation, and orders execution by lethal injection within 90 days.
  • Lawmakers reviewed a Knesset Research and Information Center report surveying lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia, the electric chair, and firing squads and their operational implications.
  • The proposal passed a first reading 39–16, has backing reported from Yisrael Beytenu and coalition partners, and faces criticism as discriminatory with anticipated petitions to the Supreme Court.