From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Ben Gvir screams ‘Hamas supporter’ at rights official who opposes death penalty for terrorists
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir enters into a shouting match with the director of an Israeli human rights group during a Knesset debate over his party’s proposed death penalty for terrorists law, calling her a “supporter of murderers.”
The legislation, which passed its first reading in November despite opposition from rights groups and others, mandates the death penalty for those who took part in the October 7 massacre, and for “terrorists who reside in the Palestinian Authority” — that is, Palestinian terror convicts from the West Bank who do not possess Israeli citizenship.
Addressing the National Security Committee, Einat Ovadia, the executive director of Zulat for Equality and Human Rights, speaks out against the bill, arguing that the global trend has been to reduce the use of the death penalty.
“You are going to invent a new role in Israel — executioner,” she says.
In response, Ben Gvir says Ovadia has a “twisted morality,” asks her why she objects to executing people “who murdered babies and burned children,” and accuses her of accepting European Union funding.
“Hamas supporter,” he yells repeatedly.
"תתביישי, תומכת ברוצחים, תומכת חמאס!" – עימות בין השר בן גביר ומנכ"לית מכון זולת לשוויון ולזכויות אדם בדיון על חוק עונש מוות למחבלים@itamarbengvir @einatovadia @ZulatEquality pic.twitter.com/Tw8UBTYfvc
— ערוץ כנסת (@KnessetT) December 23, 2025
Following the exchange, Ben Gvir, who earlier this month was spotted wearing a noose-shaped pin in the Knesset, criticizes a bill that would establish a special tribunal to charge terrorists who took part in the October 7 atrocities with acts of genocide against the Jewish people. The bill is being advanced by coalition MK Simcha Rothman, the head of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and MK Yuli Malinowsky of the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party.
Ben Gvir says that by not mandating the death penalty, their bill leaves room for the judicial system to let terrorists off the hook.
“Rothman has good intentions, Yulia and everyone in the committee have good intentions, but… I am not sure that under the legal system here judges will rise up and volunteer to impose the death penalty,” he says.
“There is only one sentence appropriate for these terrorists, and that is the death penalty.”
The Times of Israel Community.