“Quickly pass the law giving terrorists the death penalty and to say clearly that any murderer who leaves their home to harm Jews is sentenced to death!”
By World Israel News Staff
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on the government to “quickly” pass a law approving the death penalty for terrorists on the heels of another shooting attack in the Palestinian village of Huwara that injured an American-Israeli couple.
“I call on my friends to quickly pass the law giving terrorists the death penalty and to say clearly that any murderer who leaves their home to harm Jews is sentenced to death!” Ben-Gvir said.
Ben-Gvir’s comments came on the heels of a shooting attack by a Palestinian terrorist and hours after Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled against allowing him to give operative instructions to Israel Police, especially during the anti-government protests roiling the country.
During Sunday’s attack, David Stern, a Krav Maga instructor, shot and neutralized a Palestinian terrorist near Huwara after the terrorist shot him at point blank range in the head. Stern, who served in the U.S. Marines for four years, was evacuated with his wife Rachel to a hospital in Petach Tikva.
The terrorist abandoned his Carlo-style machine gun and tried to flee before being shot by an Israeli soldier near the scene.
“I wish a complete recovery for the hero who reacted quickly and calmly and saved his own life, his wife’s life and the lives of other Jews who could have been harmed by the shooting,” Ben-Gvir said.
In his ruling on Sunday, Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Amit said that Ben-Gvir was barred from giving “operational instructions [to police] regarding the manner of implementing his policy, the manner of the use force, the means of dispersing demonstrations, and the conditions regarding the time, place and manner of organizing the event.”
Ben-Gvir slammed Amit over the decision, which he said constituted a conflict of interest in the judicial reform crisis.
“This decision only strengthens the vital urgency of the judicial reform,” said Ben-Gvir. “In the amendment to the police order passed by the Knesset upon the establishment of the government, it was determined that the police would be subordinate to the government and the national security minister.”
After a spate of terror attacks last month in Jerusalem, Ben-Gvir said enacting the death penalty was Israel’s “moral and humane” right.