Right-wing MKs call for death penalty for Fogel killers

Ben-Ari says surviving 12-year-old Tamar should be allowed to kill her parents' murderers; Labor MK Ben-Simon: "We don't execute people."

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Michael Ben Ari 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Michael Ben Ari 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Right-wing politicians argued on Sunday over how harsh a punishment should be meted out to the murderers of the Fogel family, whose identities were revealed on Sunday.
Several MKs called for the death penalty, which can only be given to Nazis according to the civil law but is permitted according to the military law applied in Judea and Samaria.
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A legal expert said terrorists had been sentenced to death in military courts but they had successfully appealed.
“We need to change the system of punishing terrorists in Israel in order to restore deterrence,” MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) said. “Israel needs to make an ethical decision that any terrorist who kills civilians for ideological reasons will get the death penalty. When there is a death penalty, they will know they won’t be freed in a prisoner exchange after getting a degree and watching cable TV in the summer camp we call a prison.”
National Union MK Uri Ariel called the Fogels’ murderers “monsters” and said they should be given a trial and put to death if convicted.
Deputy Negev and Galilee Development Minister Ayoub Kara (Likud) said that only the death penalty and changing weak diplomatic policies could reduce the motivation of bloodthirsty murderers to kill innocents.
National Union MK Michael Ben-Ari went a step further and suggested allowing 12- year-old Tamar Fogel to participate in the execution of the murderers of her parents and three of her siblings. He said that if the murderers are not executed, the entire process of finding them would end up being a waste of time.
“The time has come for Israel to stop being the sucker of the Middle East,” Ben-Ari said. “We need the death penalty immediately!”
National Union chairman Ya’acov Katz did not rule out the death penalty but warned that if it would be ineffective in restoring deterrence unless it was combined with serious diplomatic steps like annexing Judea and Samaria, building new settlements, and expelling Arabs.
“The death penalty is too weak an approach,” Katz said.
“In America, the death penalty doesn’t prevent murders. We are not murderers. We are a healthy nation. There are many ways to make Arabs not dare to kill Jews. Arabs respect force. They need to know that we are staying here forever and that if they murder, their town’s population will pay a heavy price.”
But Labor MK Daniel Ben- Simon said he was proud that the only man ever given the death penalty in Israel was Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann, despite the many terrorists attacks the country has faced. He said he would not like Israel to join the United States and other countries that execute people.
“As horrid and insane as these murders were, we in Israel do not execute people,” Ben-Simon said.
“Despite the pain, I don’t think we should change this tradition.”