HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau on Sunday evening instructed the Degel HaTorah members to vote against the death penalty bill for terrorists, which will be brought on Monday for a vote in the Knesset plenum.

The bill is being advanced by the Otzma Yehudit party, with the support of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

HaRav Landau stated, “There is a concern of ‘rodef’ because if the Arabs around the world see that we’re doing such a thing, it could cause bloodshed. In any case, there is no chance that a court would approve the death penalty, and therefore this is provocation for its own sake.”

Agudas Yisrael MKs are expected to absent themselves from the vote. It is still unclear how the Shas party will act regarding the bill.

As is known, the Rishon LeTzion, HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Yosef, previously spoke out against legislating a death penalty for terrorists, saying, “Beginning from the verdict until the execution—what an uproar there will be in the world. The Jews in France, in Spain, and in all places will be in danger. And how much benefit is there in it anyway? All security officials say there is not much gain. That is why the great Chachamim were always against this law. It is not about left or right.”

HaRav Yosef was also opposed to the bill due to potential halachic issues, expressing concern that the Supreme Court could decide that the bill also applies to Jewish terrorists—such as Amiram Ben-Uliel, who was indicted for the deaths of three Arabs in Duma—saying that only the Sanhedrin has the power to sentence a Jew to death.

The report about the Degal HaTorah party’s intention to vote against the bill elicited angry responses from Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Choosing Life Forum, a right-wing organization which represents hundreds of families of fallen IDF soldiers and victims of terror attacks.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)