Standing Against Ben Gvir’s Yom Kippur Death Wish

Just hours before the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in the Jewish calendar, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raised the possibility of applying the death penalty to a person whom the Jerusalem Post described as responsible for the attack in Neve Tzuf, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, during a security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The thousands of members of our group “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” from across Israel, the United States and the world, wholeheartedly condemn both this monstrous act of terror, and Ben G’vir’s politically-motivated bloodlust. 

The horrific West Bank terrorist attack in question occurred on September 20, 2026. It resulted in the heinous murder of Alei Zahav resident Netanel Shukrun, Zichrono Livracha (of blessed memory), a 36-year-old father of six. The loss that his loved ones have experienced is unfathomable. May they have all the support needed now to grieve in peace, surrounded by chizuk v’nichum – strength and comfort – from their beloved community. 

The terrorist had reportedly shot at the group of Israelis from a red Mitsubishi SUV with Palestinian Authority license plates. He then exited the vehicle armed and fled the scene on foot before later being apprehended by the IDF’s Duvdevan undercover counterterrorism unit. Even before the terrorist’s capture, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had affirmed that he should not be killed during the manhunt, stating instead that “he belongs on the gallows,” in accordance with the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu reportedly convened a meeting on Sunday, in response to the security situation in the West Bank after the attack that occurred the same day. In that meeting, which took place just two hours before the start of Yom Kippur, Ben Gvir raised the issue of the death penalty in this case. At the conclusion of the security meeting, the limited cabinet decided to schedule an additional meeting that would include the Military Advocate-General, who was not present at the Sunday meeting. The follow-up will aim to examine the relevant legal and procedural aspects of the case and assess the feasibility of applying the death penalty. 

After Yom Kippur, Coalition chairman Ofir Katz backed Ben Gvir’s position, saying on Tuesday that the case met the law’s criteria. In an interview with Aryeh Golan on KAN Reshet Bet, Katz said, “The murder in Binyamin meets exactly the criteria that Otzma Yehudit’s law addresses, one for one. We need to fight these criminal terrorists, and this is one of the tools for fighting them.” He added that, “most Knesset members voted in favor. I very much hope the High Court of Justice does not block what the legislature intended,” Katz added. “Force must be met with even greater force.”

Aseret Y’mei Teshuvah and Ten Reasons to Oppose Capital Punishment 

The members of L’chaim, along with over seventy percent of global nations, and together with all of civilized humanity, respectfully disagree. Before reviewing why, recall that Ben Gvir and other death penalty supporters elected to advocate for this position at Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most sacred day on the Jewish calendar. On it, Jews worldwide take stock of their actions over the year, seek repentance for wrongs committed, and strive to improve in the year to come.  Yom Kippur also ends the period that Jews observe across the world known as Aseret Y’mei T’shuvah – the Ten Days of Repentance – which began on Rosh Hashanah. These ten days mark a time when Jews across the world add countless iterations of the word “Chaim” (“Life”) to daily prayers, as they invoke the hope of being inscribed BaSeifer Chaim – the Book of Life. In homage to these ten days, it is fitting to remind readers here of at least ten of the countless reasons why the the death penalty should be a non-starter for Jews and all of humanity in the 21st-century:

1) It violates the human right to life.

2) It often results in physical torture, and always is psychological torture for individuals counting down to their execution day. There is no humane way to execute human beings against their will.

3) It invariably is implemented in a racist manner, including in the USA, where cases involving white victims yield the death penalty significantly more than those involving black victims, and other nations whose laws openly target specific ethnicities. We recently saw this in Israel, whose first death penalty law this year targets Palestinian terrorists.

4) It risks executing the innocent.  It so happens that Yom Kippur this year fell on September 21, which is a date when not one by two wrongfully accused individuals were executed, despite their innocence. Indeed, there have been over two hundred exonerations of wrongfully convicted death row inmates since the resumption of executions in the USA in 1976. This tally does not include those before 1976, like Sacco and Vanzetti, who were most likely innocent and executed in Massachusetts 99 years ago, to name just two. How many more were missed and wrongfully executed? We shall never know…

5) It is an insidious tool for vengeance. In a recent Jerusalem Post op-ed, David S. Levine responded to an essay that I penned on behalf of L’chaim. My JPost op-ed had stated that “the death penalty is vengeance disguised as deterrence.” Mr. Levine’s retort, rather than denying this charge, openly acknowledged that the death penalty is indeed “unapologetically vengeance,” which he then proceeded to justify.

6) Meta-studies have determined time and again that the death penalty is not a deterrent. Deterrence is a fallacious delusion when applied to the death penalty,  and “retributive” or “proportional” justice does not bring closure for murder victims’ loved ones.

7) Rather, the death penalty only creates more martyrs. A renowned comment regarding the well-established relationship between the death penalty and the desire for martyrdom comes from the 19th-century writer Eliphas Levi. He demonstrated a keen understanding of these basic human dynamics when he wrote: “Every head that falls upon the scaffold may be honored and praised as the head of a martyr.” History has proven this time and again.

8) It traumatizes executioners and witnesses.

9) From Adolph Hitler to Donald Trump and elsewhere, the death penalty is used as a political tool, particularly for election campaigns, as Ben Gvir’s disgusting, sadistic comments praising a death viewing chamber recently demonstrated yet again.

10) Many execution methods are direct Nazi legacies, including firing squad, gassing, and lethal injection.

For these reasons and more, members of L’chaim regularly have chanted a Kol Nidrei recitation on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court especially for the sin of capital punishment. And yet, the Knesset has enacted these medieval laws, and now, on Yom Kippur of all days, the unconscionable stain of executions darkens what remains of the moral fabric of Israeli society. As it does so, antisemitic extremists will assuredly blame all Jews for their state’s sponsored murder program. They will neatly fit it into their warped view of Israel –  and, by extension, Judaism  – as a so-called  “Death Cult.”

​Just as these laws jeopardize the safety and security of Jews across the globe in this way, they also threaten to permanently mar what remains of Israel’s moral standing among the vast majority of 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 encapsulated L’chaim’s stance when he said of capital punishment that – in the shadow of the Holocaust – “death should never be the answer in a civilized society.” Proponents of vengeance who support these new laws in Israel should heed Wiesel’s message – and condemn Ben-Gvir’s death advocacy. They should realize that executions – still – are not the answer today, and never should be.  

May the abiding neshama/spirit of Netanel Shukrun be a loving guide for all who were privileged to know him in this world. 

May his loved ones be comforted among all the mourners of Zion and the world. 

May no more blood be spilled in his sacred name. 

May all the killings end.

Cantor Michael J. Zoosman, MSM

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

Advisory Committee Member: Death Penalty Action