National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has warned that his Otzma Yehudit party will stop taking part in coalition votes unless the long-delayed death penalty bill for terrorists is brought to the Knesset floor within three weeks.
Ben-Gvir issued the ultimatum Monday during a press conference marking the opening of the Knesset’s winter session following its three-month break.
He reminded reporters that the coalition agreement signed with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s Likud party clearly required progress on the bill, saying it was a firm commitment made before the war began.
“The commitment is written in black and white in the coalition agreements,” he emphasized.
The minister recalled that after the war erupted, he was told that advancing the law could jeopardize the lives of hostages held by Hamas. But in his view, that reasoning never held water. Calling it “an excuse” and a “serious mistake,” Ben-Gvir said that passing such a law during the war would have been “an important lever of pressure on Hamas.”
Now, he argued, that justification no longer exists. “In any case, now the list of excuses is exhausted,” he said, referencing the recent release of the last living hostages from Gaza.
“I am therefore officially announcing that we demand the first law proposal to be advanced in the current Knesset session be ‘the death penalty for terrorists’ law,” Ben-Gvir declared.
“If within three weeks, the law is not brought to a vote in the Knesset plenum, Otzma Yehudit will not be obligated to participate in coalition votes,” he warned.
“It is time for the Likud to honor this commitment, which is, above all, a pledge to the public who voted for a right-wing government,” he added.
His comments come at a precarious time for the government, with the coalition and opposition currently deadlocked at 60 seats each. The stalemate followed the withdrawal of the chareidi factions from the coalition in July amid disputes over the yeshiva draft law.
That balance means that if Otzma Yehudit carries out its threat and stops voting with the coalition, Prime Minister Netanyahu will lack the votes needed to pass any legislation or secure approval for new measures.
Back in September, before the temporary ceasefire and hostage release agreement with Hamas, the Knesset’s National Security Committee had already advanced the bill to the plenum for its first reading. At that point, opponents warned that moving ahead with the legislation could undermine hostage negotiations.
Ben-Gvir, however, maintained that the opposite was true—that enacting the law would have strengthened Israel’s leverage and expedited a deal.
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, who serves as the government’s coordinator for hostages and the missing, spoke out strongly against Ben-Gvir’s move, reflecting the position of the Prime Minister’s Office and the hostages’ families.
“I requested not to allow this conversation to take place,” Hirsch said, making clear that he “completely disagreed with the assessment that moving forward with the bill would help bring the remaining hostages back.”
{Matzav.com}
The terrorists should be “neutralized” before they even see the inside of a courtroom. Smear their remains in pig fat, and don’t return their bodies. Once they lose their “paradise”, let’s see how fast they volunteer to become shahids