Coalition chairman Ofir Katz backed National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s push to apply the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law to the terrorist who carried out the deadly attack in Neveh Tzuf, saying on Tuesday that the case met the law’s criteria.
In an interview with Aryeh Golan on KAN Reshet Bet, Katz said, “The murder in Binyamin meets exactly the criteria that Otzma Yehudit’s law addresses, one for one. We need to fight these criminal terrorists, and this is one of the tools for fighting them.”
“Most Knesset members voted in favor. I very much hope the High Court of Justice does not block what the legislature intended,” Katz added. “Force must be met with even greater force.”
His comments came after a small-scale meeting was held two hours before the start of Yom Kippur to discuss the security situation in the West Bank. During the meeting, Ben-Gvir raised the issue of imposing the death penalty on terrorists.
Ben-Gvir argued that the current case was the first to meet the criteria for applying the law.
Netanyahu interested in law’s application, asks IDF for information
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed interest in the issue and asked IDF officials for answers regarding the possibility of implementing the law in the current case.
The Military Advocate-General did not participate in the discussion, while IDF representatives who attended said that, from their perspective, there was no obstacle to doing so.
After the discussion, the limited cabinet decided to hold an additional professional meeting on the issue, with the Military Advocate-General participating, to examine how to proceed and whether the law could be applied.
