death penalty proposal passes first reading

Somewhat surprisingly, I think, Yisrael Beyteynu got their law proposal, death penalty for terrorists passed in its initial reading.

I say "surprisingly" because:
1. it is a super controversial idea, all over the world
2. they got this through the vote without any major public debate over this
3. they won the vote without full coalition support and participation and without the strong opposition other laws, like the recent minimarket law, had, even though the vote was close.
4. when PM Netanyahu spoke before the vote, MK Tibi asked if the law would be applied to Jewish terrorists equally, and he responded that conceptually it would be. That should have given some MKs pause for thought, though there are very few Jewish terrorists, and fewer that viciously murder Arabs in the name of Israeli nationalism.

According to the proposal, a military court can decide on the death penalty with a basic majority in a sitting of three judges, and no appeal allowed.

That means 2 judges out of 3 can decide someone deserves the death penalty on someone else and nobody has the right to question the decision. While I am sure judges in such a situation will give serious consideration to the case before them and its ramifications, it seems the law proposal gives a bit too much power to so few people.

The people from the organization behind the proposal say that there is no actual intention to start executing people as punishment, but the ability to do so is intended to create a heightened sense of deterrence. A potential terrorist will now consider the possibility of receiving the death penalty and that possibility will, perhaps, dissuade him from committing his act of terror.

So perhaps we will never get to that point, the point of 3 judges sitting and deciding to execute someone without anyone reviewing their decision. But perhaps we will. All their intentions aside, once the law is out there, even with their intentions that the law should never be carried out, who says it won't be.

I don't know that it shouldn't. In general I am in favor of the death penalty. But in practice it should at least be considered seriously before going there - there are many issues involved. Obviously there is the issue of how to execute the convicted terrorist. There is also a question if in Judaism is it ok or not, and we are living in a Jewish state. There is also the issue of Jewish terror. Right now that level of terror, the level that might incur a death penalty, is extremely rare, but if one day it happens, will Israel really implement this the same way it is implemented against Islamic terror - and is that good or bad, right or wrong?

Such a law, with such weighty issues involved, needs a lot of debate and consideration - from the MKs, form the public and from organizations and institutions that will seriously consider both the practical and the moral issues involved.

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