After terrorist attack in the West Bank: Is Israel about to carry out its first execution since 1962?

An attack on Sunday in the West Bank could be a test. The death penalty could be carried out in Israel for the first time since the execution of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1962.

On Sunday, a Palestinian opened fire from a vehicle at a water source in the West Bank. He hit an Israeli in his vehicle and seriously wounded him. The incident occurred near the settlement of Neve Tzuf, north of Jerusalem. Netanel Shukrun, who lives in the Alei Zahav settlement, was seriously wounded. Shukrun died from his wounds a few hours later in a hospital in the Israeli town of Petah Tikva.

The attacker is said to have gotten out of the car after the shots he fired, fled on foot and was wounded by a soldier. A few hours later he was captured by the Israeli military in a hospital near Ramallah. The car he was driving was also found there.

Violence is currently raging in the West Bank on an unprecedented scale. In most cases it does not originate from Palestinians, as in this case, but from Jewish settlers. Attacks on Palestinians by radical ideological settlers have increased dramatically since October 7, 2023. The military itself counts 2.4 attacks per day.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said shortly after the attack that “no terrorist will go unpunished.” In addition to various security measures, he ordered the military to immediately demolish the attacker's house. Demolishing the homes of attackers is a common practice in Israel; It usually also affects people, such as the families of the perpetrators, who have nothing to do with the crime.

Netanyahu's challenger Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, which is leading in some polls heading into the late October parliamentary elections, sounded a similar note: "We will continue to persecute those who want to harm us, anywhere and at any time," he wrote. “The heart of an entire nation is aching at this difficult time.”

Beyond these reactions, the debate about further consequences also began after the attack. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of National Security, called for the use of the death penalty: "This is the first case in which the law on the death penalty for terrorists can be used," he said: "In this case, the punishment is mandatory. The law is the law."

It would be the first time that the law passed in March would be put into practice. The death penalty had long been Ben-Gvir's hobbyhorse, and he was repeatedly seen with a gold noose as a pin on his lapel - part of his campaign for the introduction of the death penalty, which finally bore fruit in March.

In March, human rights organizations criticized not only the reintroduction of the death penalty itself, but also the design of the law. Because one thing is clear: the death penalty is only for Palestinians, both in the version that applies to the West Bank and in the version that applies to Israel. In both cases, this can punish people who are convicted of a terrorist murder that is allegedly or actually committed with the intention of exterminating the State of Israel.

The uproar among the Israeli population in view of Ben-Gvir's statement is limited. The human rights organization Association for Civil Rights in Israel (Acri), however, warns against implementing the law. Debbie Gilad-Hayo, a lawyer at Acri, said she was not surprised by Ben-Gvir's demand. She hopes that the court will follow a petition filed by the human rights organization. And that it declares the law unconstitutional.