Proposed legislation submitted to the Knesset Dec. 27 by Yisrael Beitenu, the party of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, would impose the death penalty for people convicted of terrorism. All six parties in the governing coalition — including center-right Kulanu, headed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, which in the past had expressed reservations about similar proposals — have announced their support. The Knesset is thus likely to adopt the bill within several weeks, defying the objections of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

Israeli law allows military tribunals to impose the death penalty in the case of a unanimous verdict. (Such a decision has never been made.) Liberman’s draft law stipulates that a simple majority of judges would suffice, and civil courts would also be authorized to sentence to death those convicted of terrorist attacks in Israel.

A similar law was proposed in November 2015 by Yisrael Beitenu Knesset member Sharon Gal, but 94 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, voted it down. Gal’s proposal, which was as populist as similar legislative initiatives in the past, was spurred by a wave of terror attacks sweeping Israel at the time. Nonetheless, a decisive majority of Knesset members accepted warnings by Israel’s security chiefs, who believed then, as they do now, that not only is the death penalty not a deterrent, but it risks turning the condemned into martyrs. It could also prompt others to avenge their deaths and turn themselves into symbols of the struggle against Israel.

At a Dec. 24 session of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Nadav Argaman, the head of Shin Bet, reportedly reiterated his opposition to capital punishment. Argaman did not elaborate, but one can assume that he fears the resulting martyrdom would further fuel Palestinian violence in the West Bank. A similar position was adopted by Israel's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, during the wave of attacks during the so-called individual intifada that began in October 2015. Former Shin Bet Chief Yoram Cohen expressed a similar view in a Dec. 24 radio interview. “Not only does the death penalty not deter, it could also prompt those seeking revenge to carry out attacks in Israel,” said Cohen.