The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry (ECAJ) notes with concern the passage by the Knesset of the Death Penalty for Ter­ror­ists, 5786 – 2026 bill, approved by 62 votes to 48.

The Aus­trali­an Jewish community stands in unwaver­ing solid­ar­ity with the State of Israel and its people, who have endured grievous loss from terrorism and face ongoing security threats. We recognise and share the desire for justice felt by victims and their families. It is from this place of solid­ar­ity — and not in oppos­i­tion to it — that we express our concerns about this legis­la­tion.

A Departure from Jewish Legal Tradition

Capital pun­ish­ment has not been practised under Jewish law for many centuries — a reflec­tion of deeply held values about the sanctity of life and the limits of human judgement.

Mai­monides wrote in the twelfth century that it is far prefer­able to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent person to death (Book of Com­mand­ments, Negative Com­mand­ment #290). The Mishnah records that a Sanhedrin which put even one person to death in seven years was condemned as murderous, with Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva declaring that had they sat on such a court, no death sentence would ever have been passed (Makkot 1:10).

These teachings represent the weight of Jewish legal and ethical tradition — a tradition that has always under­stood that the irre­vers­ib­il­ity of death demands the highest standard of restraint and certainty.

Our Concerns with the Legislation

Dis­crim­in­at­ory applic­a­tion. The Act applies dif­fer­en­tial standards based on nation­al­ity alone. This falls well short of the principle of equal justice.

Deterrence. The Act purports to strengthen deterrence, yet there is no empirical evidence that the death penalty is a uniquely effective deterrent to terrorism, and there is no reason to believe it would deter followers of a death cult. Legis­lat­ive responses to the very real threats Israeli citizens face must be grounded in evidence.

Natural justice. The law provides very limited judicial dis­cre­tion in cases heard by military courts. There is no require­ment for a unanimous verdict, no pardon provision, and exe­cu­tions must be carried out within 90 days of sentence con­firm­a­tion.

The path forward

The Otzma Yehudit party’s campaign for this legis­la­tion rep­res­ents a troubling departure from the prin­ciples that have guided Israeli law and Jewish tradition. We trust that Israel’s Supreme Court will carefully scru­tin­ise this legis­la­tion.

Australia has a proud and con­sist­ent record of opposing the death penalty in all cir­cum­stances, for all people.  The Aus­trali­an Gov­ern­ment should also oppose the ongoing use of the death penalty by Hamas in Gaza, its retention in the laws of the Palestini­an Authority, and its pre­val­ence through­out the region.