The families of some 240 hostages taken into Gaza on October 7 “do not have a mandate on the pain,” coalition MK Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit) charged at the families during a Knesset debate on enacting the death penalty to Palestinian terrorists on Monday.
During the raucous hearing, Cohen attacked the hostages’ families after being confronted by one father who accused the lawmakers of debating the bill only because they “want to kill Arabs… you have killed enough.
“Stop talking about killing Arabs, start talking about saving Jews!” he said
The altercation between a family memeber of a Gaza hostage and MK Almog Cohen in the Knesset on November 20, 2023 (MK ALMOG COHEN/VIA KNESSET CHANNEL)
Cohen replied, “what is that statement?! You do not have a mandate on the pain – if you want to speak, speak.”
According to Israeli media, Cohen left the debate shortly after the altercation.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Saturday evening that on Monday, the preparation for the first reading of the death penalty law for terrorists will be discussed in the National Security Committee.
Death penalty for terrorists harms Gaza hostages, families tell Knesset
The bill calling to enact the death penalty for terrorists “severely endangers the lives of” the Gaza hostages, the Hostages’ Families Forum said on Monday morning.
“The timing of this risks the lives of our loved ones beyond the existing risk and it doesn’t even advance any public purpose,” they said. “The death penalty is a sensitive topic that needs to be debated in closed meetings and in professional forums.”
“The debate on the death penalty for terrorists is a mental terror attack, a flammable that risks the lives of kidnapped children,” said representative Noam Dan.
The families’ request was ignored by the Otzma Yehudit MKs present at the meeting, who explained why the law was necessary but didn’t address the issue of the timing.
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