The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, convened today (Monday) in the Knesset, a discussion on the Death Penalty Law for terrorists.
The families of the abductees who participated in the debate, criticized the debate participants for the timing of the introduction of the law, and asked the government to wait until after their loved ones return from the inferno. They claimed that the discussion of the law at this time is like sentencing the abductees to death.
One of those present at the committee, Gil Dikman, a relative of Carmel Gat and Yarden Roman Gat, who were kidnapped to Gaza, was furious with Ben-Gvir and begged in a choked voice: "I begged, what needs to be done can be done quietly, the discussions on the death penalty can be done after the war. Not now when the sword placed on their throats.
"You probably don't understand what this does to us, I joined at once to both the families of the abductees and the families of the murdered. We still have hope that someone is alive, don't take that away from us."
"Choose our lives before the death of our enemy," the families asked, "after you make sure that Hamas will not take revenge and execute our relatives - it will be possible to hold this discussion."
The headquarter of the families of the abductees also opposed holding the debate today in the Knesset on the issue of the death penalty for terrorists and said: "The death penalty is a sensitive issue that should first be discussed in closed discussions in professional forums.
"In any case, imposing the death penalty is still possible today and does not require legislative amendments. Under these circumstances, today's discussion can have no practical consequences. Its existence at this time endangers the lives of our loved ones beyond the already existing risk and this without promoting any public purpose.
"Therefore, the decision to maintain it is irrelevant. We brought our position to the chairman of the committee, but this did not result in the cancellation of the discussion," they said.
