National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demands immediate Knesset action on a death-penalty law for terrorists, threatening to withdraw coalition support within three weeks.
Otzma Yehudit chairman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir opened his faction meeting with a stark ultimatum: the Knesset must immediately prioritize legislation instituting the death penalty for terrorists, or his faction will no longer guarantee votes for the coalition.
Ben-Gvir told lawmakers the measure was a clear item in the coalition accords with Likud — a promise that, he said, has been stalled for months by delays from within the ruling camp. He accused coalition partners of hiding behind the risk to hostages as an excuse to postpone the bill, calling that position a grave error. “This would have been an essential lever against Hamas during the war,” he said, arguing that the lack of such deterrents only emboldened the enemy.
Pointing to the recent prisoner releases in the ceasefire deal, Ben-Gvir warned that freeing convicted murderers sends a dangerous signal: it motivates further abductions and incentivizes terror swaps. “When terrorists live, terrorists outside are inspired to abduct to secure releases for their comrades,” he said. “That cycle must end. The time when Jewish blood was treated as worthless must be over — never again.”
Ben-Gvir made clear his timeline: the death-penalty bill must be the first piece of legislation advanced in the current Knesset session. If the measure is not brought to a plenum vote within three weeks, Otzma Yehudit will cease to be bound to vote with the coalition. “This is a promise to the public that elected a right-wing government,” he said. “It is time for Nukhba terrorists to pay the proper price and for would-be abductors to know that the era of release-deals is finished.”
Turning to recent battlefield events, Ben-Gvir condemned Sunday’s killing of two IDF soldiers in Rafah, which occurred during the ceasefire. He rejected rhetoric about taking a symbolic “price,” insisting the nation must resume the central aim of the conflict: the destruction of Hamas’s ability to exist. “This is not about taking a price — it is about ending Hamas’s continued existence,” he declared.
Concluding his address, Ben-Gvir urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government to shift from restraint to decisive action: “Now is the time to regroup and return to intense operations — to conquer and uproot until we reach our goal.”
