Jewish Currents: "Giving Palestinians Fewer Rights than Eichmann Received"

[AStern]

Sociologist Ron Dudai discusses the new death penalty bill that has become a vehicle for the Israeli right’s revenge.

On November 10th, 2025, the Israeli Knesset voted to advance a bill designed “to establish the death penalty for terrorists who have carried out murderous terror attacks.” If passed, the new law would require only a simple majority of judges to rule against a defendant; the convicted must then be hanged within 90 days without any possibility of commutation.

The bill, which applies only to the murder of Israelis, has become a symbol of the far right’s desire to extract revenge. “A death penalty for terrorists is a personal and national obligation,” Limor Son Har-Melech, the Member of Knesset who sponsored the legislation, said in a statement. It is a “bill that will frighten,” added far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The bill is currently being debated in committee; afterwards, it is expected to return to the Knesset plenary for final voting, where it appears likely to pass into law. In anticipation, the Israel Prison Service has announced that they have already begun designing special facilities where those convicted will be hanged, and training prison employees to perform the executions.

To learn more about Israel’s past positions on the death penalty, the details of the current legislation, and the cultural and political changes that have led to its advancement, I spoke with Ron Dudai, an Israeli sociologist who studies criminology and human rights. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

https://jewishcurrents.org/giving-palestinians-fewer-rights-than-eichmann-received-death-penalty-israel