Israel Knesset Rejects Death Penalty by 94-6 Vote
Israel’s Knesset voted down a bill that would allow judges to more easily sentence a terrorist to death.
By a vote of 94-6, the bill was rejected in its first reading on Wednesday. The six votes came from members of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, which proposed the measure, The Jerusalem Post reported. In the March election, the party ran on a platform that included death sentences for terrorists.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation did not vote on the measure at the urging of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and instead formed a committee to look at ways to change the death penalty law. Under current law, the death penalty can only be levied in case of judicial consensus.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
