Ben-Gvir: Netanyahu trying to bury death penalty for terrorists bill

• Author: Israel National News
• Published date: 26 February 2023
• Publication title: Israel National News (Israel)

At the moment, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is promoting the bill, is refusing the prime minister's request

According to the report by Ynet, the Likud party is seeking to table the legislation for not to avoid a move which could inflame tensions ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Ben-Gvir made it clear to the Likud officials who reached out to him that under the coalition agreements between Likud and the Otzma Yehudit party, the bill imposing the death penalty was to receive its final approval at the same time as the state budget, which was passed on Friday. However, due to the tight legislative schedule and the Likud's demand to delay the passage of the bill, the possibility that the bill will not be passed in the timeframe mandated by the coalition agreement.

The bill was submitted by MK Limor Son Har-Melech of Otzma Yehudit. It is scheduled to be discussed today in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and then voted on in a preliminary reading in the Knesset on Wednesday. A similar bill was submitted by Ben-Gvir last year during the previous Knesset, when Ben-Gvir was in the opposition.

The explanatory notes to the bill state: "In recent years, we have witnessed a growing phenomenon of terrorist attacks in which Jews were murdered solely for being Jews. The...