TEL AVIV-YAFO, Israel — Legislation allowing for the death penalty to be applied to terrorists will be put on hold pending the approval of Israel’s Security Cabinet, said coalition chairman MK Ofir Katz on Monday.
The announcement came after the families of hostages sparred with right-wing lawmakers during a meeting of the Knesset’s National Security Committee earlier in the day.
The bill, introduced by the Otzma Yehudit Party, is opposed by the Hostages’ Families Forum, which represents the interests of the families of Israelis being held captive in Gaza. Around 240 hostages—Israelis and foreign nationals—were abducted on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
The forum said the legislation “severely endangers the lives” of the captives.
“The discussion’s timing endangers our loved ones without actively promoting a public interest,” said the forum in a statement.
“Stop talking about killing Arabs and start speaking about saving Jews,” shouted a relative of one of the hostages during the stormy committee meeting.
“The debate on the death penalty for terrorists is a mental terror attack, a flammable that risks the lives of kidnapped children,” said Noam Dan a representative for the abducted families.
“The timing of this risks the lives of our loved ones beyond the existing risk and it doesn’t even advance any public purpose,” added the families’ representatives. “The death penalty is a sensitive topic that needs to be debated in closed meetings and in professional forums,” he continued.
Otzma Yehudit Knesset member Almog Cohen insisted that the hostages’ families “do not have a monopoly on the pain,” adding, “We have also buried more than 50 friends.”
National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit Party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Saturday evening, in a post on X, formerly called Twitter, that his party would introduce a death penalty bill to the Knesset this week.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of the Shas Party said on Sunday that he supports the death penalty for the Hamas terrorists who led the Oct. 7 massacre.
Likud Party lawmaker Amit Halevi last month submitted a bill to Israel’s parliament that would allow courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinian terrorists who participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror assault.
At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. Another 240 men, women, children and soldiers were taken back to Gaza as hostages. Some people remain unaccounted for as authorities continue to identify bodies and search for human remains.
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