Government weighing compromise that will clear way for death penalty bill — report

The government is considering a compromise that would clear the way for completing legislation on a contentious bill enacting the death penalty for convicted terrorists, Channel 12 reports, without citing sources.

The bill — sponsored by MK Limor Son Har-Melech of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party — passed its first reading in the Knesset last week and is now under discussion in the National Security Committee ahead of its final two votes.

According to the report, the government has been divided over whether the death penalty should become the default, mandatory sentence for certain terror offenses, or whether there should be some degree of judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

At Thursday night’s cabinet meeting, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has long pushed for a mandatory version of the law, argued that leaving discretion to the Attorney General and state prosecutor would render the bill meaningless, according to the report.

Channel 12 now says a compromise is on the table — that Ben Gvir is not rejecting — under which judges, rather than prosecutors, would hold the discretion.

Under the proposal, even if state prosecutors choose not to request a death sentence in a given case, judges would still be able to impose it on their own. As a result, if the majority of a judicial panel — two judges out of three — supports the penalty in severe cases, the likelihood of it being applied would increase, the network says.