The death penalty is an issue that should be discussed with awe. More than perhaps any other subject it demands to be treated so, because it is an issue which even its advocates recognize to be solemn and severe.
It is one reason why the provocations and trollings by Itamar Ben-Gvir on the matter provoke such revulsion. To date, the Israeli minister of national security has advocated mass executions of terrorists in Israeli jails by such means as wearing a golden noose lapel pin and celebrating his 50th birthday with execution-themed birthday cakes with nooses in the center. Last week he took his voluble enthusiasm for executions to another level, posting a video online in which he gloated about building a gallows for public executions, complete with viewing rooms for the families of victims.
Not for the first time Ben-Gvir is a man who harms any cause to which he fixes himself. Yet aside from his stunts, Israelis must soon make serious decisions about the issue. Though Israel prohibits the death penalty for most offenses, the Knesset voted unanimously in May to allow it for terrorists who participated in the October 7, 2023, attacks. Now the Israeli justice system must determine whether capital punishment will go forward, and exactly who it will be allowed to ensnare.
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