Tel-Chai Nation

Sara Ha'Etzni Cohen's making a case for why jihadists have to receive the death penalty as a deterrent against future violence:

This author used to feel indifferent about the legislative proposals and public debates surrounding the death penalty for terrorists, which surfaced a few years ago. I naively believed that since many terrorists are already willing, sometimes even eager, to die as "martyrs," the death penalty would not serve as an effective deterrent, and that our energy would be wasted on a dead-end strategy in the fight against terrorism. I dismissed those proposals, viewing them as empty populist gestures.

The death penalty for murder was abolished in Israel in the mid-1950s. Since then, the harshest sentence available has been life imprisonment, or multiple life terms. Under military law in Judea and Samaria, it is technically possible to impose the death penalty for murder, but military courts have never enforced it. The last time a death sentence was handed down was in the 1990s to a terrorist who carried out two deadly suicide bombings at the Afula Central Bus Station. That sentence was appealed and later commuted to life in prison. And what became of that terrorist? He was released in the Gilad Shalit deal.

In another particularly painful case – the lynching in Ramallah – two judges sentenced one of the perpetrators to death, but the third judge, who chose mercy for the merciless, blocked the ruling. As a result, Raad Sheikh, a vile and brutal killer, escaped execution. And what became of him? He was just released in the latest deal to secure the freedom of our kidnapped brothers.

And so I have changed my mind: Israel must institute the death penalty for terrorists. This is a matter of moral survival. Not (only) as a deterrent, but first and foremost as a matter of justice and as a tool to prevent future terrorism. It has become clear that this is the only way Israel can deliver true justice to terrorist murderers. In the recent hostage deal, Israel released 250 terrorists serving life sentences, the heaviest offenders in the system, not including a few dozen others who remain imprisoned for now, some because they are considered symbols of terrorism.

I just hope she understands that it'd be better still if the Islamic religion stopped being taught as though it were literally positive. We could even make a similar case regarding communism, which has also been responsible for millions of murders over past decades. That's something all concerned will have to ponder.

Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, islam, Israel, jihad, Knesset, military, misogyny, political corruption, racism, sexual violence, terrorism, war on terror