TEL AVIV, November 10, 2025 (WAFA) – Israeli media said that the Knesset will hold its first reading vote today on a bill to execute Palestinian prisoners.
The Knesset's Security Committee approved the bill on November 3, and submitted it to the Knesset plenum for a vote, a move that sparked widespread condemnation both locally and internationally.
This development comes amid pressure from the extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who threatened that his party, Otzma Yehudit, would not vote in favor of the ruling coalition's bills if the death penalty bill is not brought to a vote within the next three weeks.
The law is considered part of the agreements signed to form the coalition government headed by Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Power party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir in late 2022.
The bill to execute prisoners is not new; it has been proposed repeatedly in recent years, most recently in 2022 when the extremist minister Ben-Gvir reintroduced it with a number of amendments. It was eventually approved by the Knesset in its preliminary reading in March 2023.
The bill stipulates "the death penalty for anyone who intentionally or negligently causes the death of an Israeli citizen out of racist or hateful motives and to harm Israel."
The bill's passage in its first reading will allow it to continue its advancement in the next Knesset, even if it is not fully enacted during the current session.
K.T
