The Israel press today unanimously upheld the Jerusalem District Court’s guilty verdict and death sentence for Adolf Eichmann. Since no newspapers are published here on the Sabbath, Friday’s sentence was the featured news in all of Israel’s newspapers today.
All newspapers rejected requests for commutation of Eichmann’s sentence to Life imprisonment; Editorials pointed out there can be no connection between the principle of moral opposition to capital punishment and the sentence to hang Eichmann, since, in this instance, he had been condemned not only of crimes against the Jewish people but also of crimes against humanity.
Leading articles pointed out that Israel abolished the death sentence for murder, but retained such a penalty specifically for the crime of genocide, of which Eichmann has now been convicted.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
