Netanyahu backs bill which may usher in death penalty for terrorists

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is backing a bill that would usher in the death sentence for convicted terrorists, raising the prospect of Israel’s first official execution since Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

Netanyahu’s backing comes as the bill was expected to pass through the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee before its first reading in the Knesset.

Israeli law technically permits the death penalty in certain cases but requires a unanimous decision from judges, last seen in the case of the senior SS leader, who managed the logistics of the Holocaust. The new bill would change that to a majority.

The bill is being pushed by Education Minister and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, but has been criticised by the European Union, has said the use of the death penalty was “inhuman and degrading”.