Hamas Threats Confirm Worst Incitement Fears After Israel’s Death Penalty Laws  

Various reputable media outlets recently reported that Hamas leadership has called for the kidnapping of IDF soldiers following the two death penalty laws for convicted terrorists that the Knesset passed since the start of the year. Tragically, and as expected, this development only confirms the worst fears that opponents of Israel’s renewed execution push – including the thousands of members of our group “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” in Israel and across the world – have articulated time and again. Hamas’ most recent response is horrendous proof positive that these laws jeopardize the safety and security of Jews across the globe. 

Hamas’ Response, like the Death Penalty Itself, Perpetuates the Cycle of Violence 

Despite this clear-cut evidence that judicial state killings would only encourage reprisal, many proponents of these execution laws have since doubled-down on their pro-death stance. Various advocates of execution have responded to Hamas’ threats by stating that Israel therefore should hang all imprisoned terrorists. In doing so, they fail to consider how such actions would only further perpetuate the cycle of violence. A closer examination of Hamas’ recent monstrous threat unequivocally demonstrates. 

In the document that was released, Hamas leadership stated clearly that it is planning to intensify efforts to kidnap Israeli soldiers. The terrorist group framed these proposed kidnappings as the only effective means of securing the release of Palestinian prisoners facing execution, according to an internal message published Monday by Israeli Public Broadcaster KAN News. The letter, circulated internally among Hamas operatives in Gaza, came after the Knesset passed the second of two laws that would impose the death penalty on convicted terrorists.

Hamas described the most recent of these death penalty laws as a “fascist law,” and urged members of the organization’s military wing to escalate and carry out “active operations.” The internal communique reportedly emphasized what Hamas described as the strategic importance of abducting Israeli soldiers, calling it “the only path” to securing the release of Palestinian prisoners facing execution by Israel. Crucially, Hamas further warned that the execution of Palestinian prisoners could trigger broader escalation with soldiers in the Gaza envelope. “Any harm to the life of a prisoner is an explosive that will lead to the eruption of a volcano,” the letter read. 

This development punctuates how the upcoming debate in the Israeli Supreme Court about the legality of the “Death Penalty for Terrorists” Law (the first of Israel’s two new execution-related laws) is one of the most consequential to come before that esteemed judicial body in the twenty-first century. Its outcome impacts not only the State of Israel, but Jews everywhere. If the Supreme Court fails to repeal the law – if the unconscionable stain of executions succeeds in darkening the moral fabric of Israeli society – antisemitic extremists will assuredly blame all Jews for their state’s sponsored murder program, neatly fitting it into their warped view of Israel – and, by extension, Judaism – as a so-called “Death Cult.” If it succeeds, however, then it might set a precedent for the eventual repeal of the second death penalty law that Israel subsequently passed, specifically targeting convicted terrorists who carried out the monstrous Oct. 7, 2023, massacres across Israel.

Death Penalty Laws Will Entice Future Shaheeds (“Martyrs”) and Endanger Jews Globally

Beyond Hamas’ latest threat, there is ample reason to conclude that the prospect of martyrdom through execution would only increase the likelihood of future acts of terror across Israel. A renowned comment regarding the well-established relationship between the death penalty and a desire for martyrdom comes from 19th-century writer Eliphas Levi. Levi demonstrated a keen understanding of the dynamics at play when he wrote: “Every head that falls upon the scaffold may be honored and praised as the head of a martyr.”

Applying Levi’s wisdom to modern-day Israel, it becomes clear that a mandatory death sentence for Palestinians who murder Jews will almost certainly increase the number of terrorist attacks. Radical Islamist terrorists – like those who perpetrated mass murder on October 7th, 2023 – celebrate martyrdom to receive the supposed rewards awaiting them in paradise. They want to die for their cause. Their preference is for martyrdom in the act of killing. Still, if they can kill and then be placed on a pedestal to be lauded as heroes facing the death penalty for their cause, then all the better, even more so if they get to become celebrities in a world where Israel is hated because of how it treats non-Jewish citizens. If these death penalty laws are now implemented, these scenarios could happen. Why would Israel want to encourage potential terrorists? On this purely practical level, this kind of legislation is insane. A far harsher punishment is incarceration. Let perpetrators consider what they have done and why they endure the constrictions of a maximum-security prison every day. As a former Jewish prison chaplain, I can personally attest to this harsh reality.

As stated above, proponents of the death penalty have argued that executing terrorists will prevent future hostage-taking for prisoner swaps. Israel can avoid this simply by changing the law to forbid including those directly involved in murder in any future prisoner exchanges, with no exceptions. This policy would solve the problem without creating more dead martyrs around whose memory other terrorists would most assuredly rally.

A Cautionary Tale of Failed Deterrence

The incitement to further violence in Israel, however, is only part of the problem that Israel’s death penalty laws present. They also threaten to permanently mar what remains of Israel’s moral standing among the more than 70% of world nations that have abolished the death penalty in law and practice. In the highly volatile political climate that now imperils the rule of law in Israel, this issue further normalizes the invocation of state violence. It widens the gap between modern-day Israel and the central Jewish value of the inviolability of life. Famed death penalty abolitionist Elie Wiesel best articulated this stance when he said of capital punishment that – in the shadow of the Holocaust – “death should never be the answer in a civilized society.”

In light of Hamas’ recent threats, members of the Knesset and their constituents celebrating these death penalty laws would do well to consider the cautionary tale of the Israeli government’s longstanding policy of demolishing the family homes of terrorists after they have committed attacks. It is well known that this policy has done nothing to “deter” acts of violence and murder. Despite the government’s claims, terror attacks continue unabated. Home demolition is nothing more than an act of revenge and collective punishment that is in direct violation of international humanitarian law. 

Proponents of Israel’s death penalty laws seem to have convinced themselves that adding the clear-cut human rights offense of the death penalty to the list of vengeful, medieval practices will do what home demolitions could not, and reduce terrorist attacks. This rationale constitutes a grave miscalculation, with potentially lethal consequences for Israel and all the Jewish world. For this reason alone, amidst many others, Israeli Supreme Court justices must redeem Israel from this fate this Shavuot season by casting a resounding “No!” in response to the first of these death penalty laws now before them. They instead should unconditionally repeal this law, encouraging Israel to return to the civilized, abolitionist path, and to break the cycle of violence and killing, once and for all. 

Cantor Michael J. Zoosman, MSM, BCC

Co-Founder: L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty

Advisory Committee Member: Death Penalty Action