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Michael Zoosman

Sep 25, 2026, 5:47 AM

Sukkot and the Shadow of October 7: Uninviting the Angel of Death in Israel

The ruins of a sukkah in Kibbutz Nir Oz. No copyright. Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1S2QQmkmBC/

Sukkot has not been the same for world Jewry since October 7, 2023. On that date, Hamas led a coordinated, multi-pronged assault from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel, marking the deadliest single day in the country’s history and...

Michael Zoosman

Sep 22, 2026, 11:57 PM

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...

Sep 22, 2026, 6:15 PM

When ‘Life’ Does Not Mean Life: Why Israel Turned to the Death Penalty

Netanel Shukrun went to a spring with his eldest son ahead of Yom Kippur. He never came home. The Israeli father of six was shot near Neve Tzuf on Sunday. Despite desperate attempts to save him, he died of his wounds....

Stephen A. Cooper

Sep 9, 2026, 11:18 PM

Please restore Jeffery Lee’s LWOP sentence

An open letter to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey Looking back, in 2016, on his career for an article in the Selma Times-Journal, retired Alabama Judge Jack Meigs “said serving as a judge wasn’t an easy task.” He elaborated: “I didn’t...

Michael Zoosman

Sep 2, 2026, 9:48 PM

A History of ‘L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty’: 6 Years – 5,000+ Members

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Our group, “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty,” recently surged well past 5,000 members across the USA, Israel, and the world. The Israeli Knesset’s highly publicized passage of two death penalty laws earlier this year marks a significant reason...

Stephen A. Cooper

Sep 1, 2026, 10:22 AM

“A pound of flesh” for a piece of skull

When she was 18, Christa Pike taunted and beat 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, eventually slashing her throat and body with a box cutter. Pike and an accomplice carved pentagrams into Slemmer’s body and when she still didn’t die, Pike picked...

Aug 24, 2026, 10:50 PM

Death penalty for terrorists – the rope is always too slack

The arguments in opposition to capital punishment are well hashed out and I'm sure you'll read about them in similar articles addressing this topic. For the purposes of this post I presume that capital punishment is just in principle....

Michael Zoosman

Aug 19, 2026, 8:32 PM

Sadistic Death Viewing Chamber Puts Israel Squarely on the Wrong Side of History

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The thousands of members of the group “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty,” of which I am the co-founder, wholeheartedly condemn the sadistic death chamber that Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has recently unveiled. On August 18, 2026,...

Michael Zoosman

Aug 18, 2026, 6:06 PM

Lebanon Abolishes the Death Penalty, as Israel and Hezbollah Align Supporting It

On Tuesday, August 11, after 22 years without an execution in Lebanon, its parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, making it the first Arab country in the Middle East to scrap capital punishment formally. The new law replaces...

Michael Zoosman

Aug 16, 2026, 7:09 AM

“Eye for an eye?” A 2026 Shabbat Shof’tim Sermon Against the Death Penalty

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The below text is a copy of the sermon that this writer delivered for Shabbat Shof’tim at Or Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver, BC on August 15, 2026. The writer is a former Jewish prison chaplain and co-founder of the...

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