Likud Party lawmaker Amit Halevi on Monday 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.
The draft law was submitted with support from 39 Knesset members, including four from the opposition Yesh Atid Party.
Though Israel does allow for the death penalty for murder committed by the Nazis and their helpers, and for treason, it was only used twice.
IDF officer Meir Tobianski was executed in 1948 for treason.
SS officer and Nazi Party official Adolf Eichmann was executed in 1962 in Jerusalem for his part in engineering the Holocaust.
“Given the similarity of the atrocities, which were identical to the crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis, I copied—with necessary adjustment—the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators Punishment Law, which our country enacted following the Nuremberg Trials,” Halevi said on Monday.
“This is the moral minimum that we, as members of the Israeli Knesset, owe to our conscience and to the entire human civilization, which stands dumbfounded in the face of these atrocities,” he said as he called on fellow lawmakers to support the law.
The Hamas terrorist organization killed at least 1,400 Israelis and wounded more than 3,500 in a massive offensive launched from Gaza on Oct. 7, which included firing more than 6,600 rockets at the Jewish state.
The terrorists butchered men, women, children, the elderly, the disabled and babies—some were decapitated while others were raped or burned alive. At least 199 hostages, including children, were taken to Gaza, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel confirmed on Monday.
As the Knesset opened its winter session on Monday, members of Israel’s unity government are focusing on supporting the IDF’s war efforts and managing economic issues, Knesset member Ohad Tal of the Religious Zionism Party said.
“We’re all working together, coalition, opposition, zero politics, zero politics, zero egos, zero nonsense,” he added.
“I’ve seen the most horrific sights I’ve ever seen in my life. On the other hand, I’ve also seen remarkable acts of unity, of people from all over the country, from all Israeli sectors and parts of society that came to work together, to give whatever they can to support the soldiers and the people from around Gaza,” Tal said.
