Israel’s war minister Avigdor Lieberman has urged fellow ministers to approve a bill calling for death penalty against convicted anti-occupation Palestinian attackers claiming there is no reason for Israel to be more enlightened than the US in the war on terror.
Israeli ministers are scheduled to vote on the bill at a meeting of the top-level security cabinet on Wednesday.
At long last the bill for death sentences for terrorists is to be decided on” Lieberman tweeted. “I am sure that my ministerial colleagues understand that we need all measures in the fight against terror.”
“There is no reason for us to be more enlightened than the United States or Japan in the war on terror” continued Lieberman.
The bill proposed by Lieberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party won initial backing in a January preliminary reading in the Knesset despite some coalition lawmakers expressing reservations over the legislation. Its progress since then has been repeatedly delayed.
The bill greenlights capital punishment against anti-occupation protesters involved in deadly attacks against Israelis. Under the new law the death penalty verdict does not require unanimity in order to be executed.
The current Israeli law okays death penalty only in case a verdict is issued by the military prosecution to that end.
