Poll: 70% of Israelis support death penalty for Palestinian terrorists
"Enacting a death penalty for terrorists, along with other measures, could restore deterrence and help stop terror in Israel."
By GIL HOFFMANINMATES WALK through the Hermon Prison in northern Israel last week.(photo credit: ELIYAHU KAMISHER)
Some 70 percent of Israelis favor giving the death penalty to Palestinian terrorists who murdered Israelis, according to the monthly Peace Index that was released by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University Wednesday.The poll found that 69.8% of Israelis would support giving death sentences after a trial to Palestinians who murdered Israeli citizens for nationalistic reasons. The percentage saying they would oppose the death penalty was 25.3%, and 4.9% said they did not know or declined to respond.When asked specifically about giving the death penalty to murderers of IDF soldiers, the numbers were not much different, with 65.8% in favor, 28% against, and 6.1% not knowing or responding.Likud MK Naava Boker proposed a bill Wednesday that would allow giving the death penalty to terrorists sent by a terrorist organization who murder at least two people."The murderers of the Fogel family in Itamar currently live in a four-star hotel in an Israeli prison," Boker said. "The recent murders of border policemen on the Temple Mount and the Solomon family in Halamish require taking stricter measures. Enacting a death penalty for terrorists, along with other measures, could restore deterrence and help stop terror in Israel."The poll asked respondents whether punishments given by Israeli courts to Palestinian terrorists who kill Israelis fit the crime. There was a huge difference by Israeli Arabs and Jews in their response.Among Israeli Arabs, 63% said they were too harsh, 2.3% said too easy, 25.4% said just right, and 9.3% did not know or respond.Among Israeli Jews 71.6% said too easy, 2.6% said too heavy, 18.5% said just, right and 7.3% did not know or respond.When asked whether they agreed with the claim that Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu did not try to ease tensions on the Temple Mount issue because he wanted to destract the public from his criminal probes, more than half of the respondents said they did not think so. The percentage of those who agreed with the claim was much higher among Israeli Arabs than Jews.Asked whether they thought Netanyahu knew about his lawyer David Shimron being involved in a controversial submarine deal that is being investigated, 55% said yes, 22% said no, and 23% declined to respond or said they did not know.The poll asked about claims that Netanyahu made the submarine deal for personal reasons no less than security reasons. The percentage who agreed was 40.2%, those who disagreed was 38.3%, and 21.5% said they did not know or did not respond.The poll of 600 Israelis representing a statistical sample of the adult Israeli population was taken July 25-27 and had a margin or error of plus or minus 4.1%.