Washington, DC – In response to the Knesset passing a discriminatory law that would make hanging the default penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly terrorist attacks, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami issued the following statement:
“This law is a moral stain and a betrayal of the Jewish and democratic values on which Israel was founded. Netanyahu’s far-right government is moving the country further from its own foundational principles – and the core values of American Jews.
Our community has long been at the forefront of efforts to abolish the death penalty – at home and abroad. To see it enacted in Israel, in such a blatantly discriminatory way, is a profound violation of the principles that bind the Jewish people together.
At a time when there is a near-total lack of accountability for Jewish terrorists attacking Palestinian communities in the West Bank, the double standard embedded in this law is especially egregious.”