The Cabinet has decided to maintain a standing order introduced in 1969 under which prosecutors are instructed not to demand the death penalty for Arab terrorist killers. The Cabinet discussed the issue Sunday following a Knesset debate two months ago and in the light of some ministers’ declared view that the death penalty should be employed in certain extreme cases.
Justice Minister Haim Zadok stressed that under the standing arrangement, the Cabinet could, whenever it wished, review a particular case before it came to court and rescind the standing order barring the death penalty request in that particular case. In fact, Zadok recalled, the previous Cabinet did review the Lod massacre case at the time and it then decided not to rescind the order and Kozo Okamoto, the surviving terrorist, was accordingly sentenced to life imprisonment as the prosecutor had requested.
In view of Zadok’s clarification, which meant, the Justice Minister stressed, that the death penalty was held in abeyance and could be used when deemed necessary, none of the ministers who had previously spoken out in favor of the death penalty for terrorist killers objected to the retention of the present standing arrangement. Among those who had suggested a reconsideration were Gideon Hausner, the Eichmann prosecutor, now Minister-Without-Portfolio, and Police Minister Shlomo Hillel.
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