Revisit the Death Penalty

I am an Indian Jewess and witnessing all the horrific sights and stories about all that is happening to us Jews is making me feel that I wish I could take a position wherein I could eliminate all this bullying in our lives. I have never been one for cruetly or brutality but in this case it is a definite YES to the death penalty. There is no other outcome.

I have asked this of myself many times.If you take a life , you should frofeit your life.

Of course I do'nt forget the Torah: Ex. 20:13, says "You shall not murder." Since his beginnings the mankind loves to play the judge.. And, what would bring the death penalty? Would stop the terrorists who have no fear to loose their own lives killing others? No, other and other "martyrs" will come. But isolating them under harsh conditions (see: Guantanamo), where LIVING is the most severe punishment, is in my opinion much more effective.

I agree with death penalty for terrorists. If you're going to release them, what makes you think they won't explode themselves in a crowded corner? Besides, it's not ONLY about giving a proper punishment to the terrorist, but also having caged terrorists is almost a magnet to free terrorists to kidnap and try bargains like what happened to Kuntar, shame on Olmert. Make retroactive capital punishment laws for terrorists, because being a pacifist as Israel is being so far is not working. Just not working right.

This question needs to be decided according to the din Torah. Therefore, it is best to ask the Gadol Hador and follow precisely what he says. Unfortunately, the Israeli society degraded itself and got the government it deserves at this point. This society as a whole, each and every person, would do well to look at themselves, see the depth of the fall, and get back to the our Jewish roots. This way, perhaps we won't ever have to ask ourselves such questions. We will get all the answers from Hashem, the way it was supposed to be right from the start.

Our only purpose G-d put us on earth was for LIFE itself and to love him as our creator. Life is ALL we have on this earth and when murderers take away life that can never be replaced and ruin so many families, committing the most horrible crime that can be committed, then they deserve the ultimate punishment themselves, death. For we cannot say we live in a civilized world or society when we let murderers and the worst elements of society live while the innocent are killed again and again. Murderers forfeit their right to live when they murder innocent people and the only way to maintain a "civilized" society is to get rid of the "trash", the murderers, killers with no moral sense about them. Like any terrorist Israel let's go as a good will gesture, the terrorist will come back again and again to kill innocents again and again. Civilized society is only maintained when the evil is rooted out amongst the innocent. We will never have a Civilized society as long as murderers and the worst of humanity is allowed to live just to perpetuate their evil and murder. When evil is terminated, a civilized society will emerge and the ideals G-d gave us to live by will be perfected and grow and all that is evil will be terminated or forced to change into what G-d has always wanted us to be, peaceful, loving, law abiding and following all the commandments G-d has given us right from the beginning.

The death penalty according to Jewish law is a very involved issue. Whilst the death penalty could be meted out to one who committed murder there had to be very strict guidelines as to when a person should be sentenced. In practice it was almost impossible to convict.The law requires that:There must have been two witnesses to the crime, and these must conform to a prescribed list of criteria. For example, females and close relatives of the criminal are precluded from being witnesses according to Biblical law, while full-time gamblers are precluded as a matter of Rabbinical law. The witnesses must have verbally warned the person seconds before the act that they were liable for the death penalty The person must then have acknowledged that he or she was warned, and yet then have gone ahead and committed the sin regardless. No individual was allowed to testify against him or herself. Whilst it is just to kill (not murder) in self-defence or to take preventive action by killing someone before he kills you, everything in Jewish law is nuanced. Eichman and his type are exceptions in any law, but there is a different issue over terrorists. Laws in democratic countries confer rights and even if someone is guilty of terrible crimes, the bigger question of whether it is right morally to have such a legal sanction gives rise to more problems when coming to have to carry it out ESPECIALLY WHEN SO MANY ARE HELL BENT TO FINDING NEW WAYS TO CONDEMN JEWS IN GENERAL AND ISRAEL IN PARTICULAR. So think again.

What you forget, Alex, is that the death penalty is G-d-given punishment for one who takes a life in an illegal, malicious, premeditated manner, i.e., committing murder. If G-d proscribes the death penalty multiple times in the Torah, are you insinuating that the Torah is unjust?! The Torah is G-d's law, thereby making the death penalty a just punishment. Don't forget that it is permissible to take a life in self-defense or in a defensive war. When one permits a cold-blooded murderer to life, breathe, & think, this becomes an injustice in G-d's eyes.

There are two principles against capital punishment, principles considered by the civilized world: 1) Take someone(a killer)away everything he has, even his freedom, but not his life: the most valuable thing which everyone has, given by God. 2) Each execution is nothing but a legalized murder. So, the justice can not be justified by an injustice. A third point can be a reason against execution: there are many-many ways to punish a killer harder then a 5-second execution!

Being a retired Police Officer I have always believed in in capital punishment - being Jewish I have always believed in the death penalty for anyone who murders a person simply because they are chosen - so yes, these murdering thugs ought to have the chance to their 72 virgins as quickly as possibe!

1) To those who say executing the scum will only make it worse: do you mean that the others will no longer be Mr. Nice Guy? Goodness gracious. 2) By returning 1000 live terrorists for 2 corpses insures that the scum will do it again because you have made it profitable for them by rewarding their behavior. When behavior is rewarded it will be repeated. Have the Israelis never heard of Pavlov? 3) At the very least the scum should have been infected with HIV before having been returned to Scumistan.

I cannot believe we're even debating this! Those terrorists are coming to our country, killing us, and the State of Israel isn't doing anything about it? OF COURSE we should start assigning death penalties to terrorists. I don't think we should be worried about an influx of terrorists trying to become martyrs. No matter what they say, only a small percentage of terrorists become suicide bombers. Fear of death is alive and well in Islam. We'll definitely see things looking up if we start to execute terrorists. However, that will only work if they are sentenced to execution without the endless appeals that are given to murderers in the U.S.

Killing for revenge dishonors the killer, no matter how heinous the crime. It does nothing to solve the problem, except increase hatred on both sides of the conflict.

Let us remember that, aside from the practical issue, our Torah--the source and wellspring of Judaism--unambiguously demands the death penalty for murder. There are times when mercy is evil--sparing the lives of murderers, especially unrepentent murderers that will act again if given the opportunity, is one of them.

Has not Hamas and the other terrorist organizations declared war against the Jews in Israel and all over the world? Is it any different than a nation, such as Iran, pledging to obliterate us? There have been arguments on both sides suggesting that the terrorists don't care about their own lives. In that case, Israel must choose execution. Nothing we do will stop them, anyway, especially not leftists making nice. And as someone else pointed out - at least that particular terrorist will no longer kill the innocent. Israel's attitude is definitely seen as a sign of weakness. Please open your eyes and see that the world will condemn Israel no matter what Israel does or doesn't do. The world condemns Israel for simply being Israel. Laura: My husband's best friend was murdered in the U.S. His wife shot him 13 times. I hope I am misunderstanding your suggestion that she be provided with treatment, maybe you mean rehabilitation of some sort. And, that she should be forgiven. First of all, she can't be rehabilitated. She is evil and always has been. I don't think reminding her of her sin will have any effect except further regret that she was caught and is now in prison. Second, she may have asked that his family and friends forgive her when she gave her allocution, however, my understanding is that in the Jewish religion she can only ask for and receive forgiveness from the person she wronged. As she killed our friend, he is dead so she cannot ask him for forgiveness. By the way, it wouldn't have bothered me in the least if she'd have gotten the death penalty. She should have. It is an appropriate penalty for evil to be removed from the earth.

...but let's remember that the execution of terrorists will be perceived as martyrdom by many of their co-religionists. This is one of the main reasons that American juries have rejected the death penalty for the original WTC bombing in the early 1990's and for the "20th hijacker." Certainly, a saner prisoner-exchange program (1 for 1) would be a lot better than freeing hundreds of convicted terrorists even in order to obtain the remains of murdered Jews. (I mean this only in a practical sense, there may be halachic problems with this suggestion.)

I began to choose the participle for, but instead chose of, as in "of civilization", in the `one line summary.' For this makes stand that we must emphasize our humanity, each with its own conscience, to avoid instituting the death penalty. Reminding people of their sins while reminding ourselves of their humanity prevents us from ever having to institute such barbaric tactics as murder via the death penalty. The Israelites need not compare themselves to Christian Americans "turning the other cheek" yet having the death penalty. I wish they did not generalize about themselves as all Jews who are warriors that therefore should institute the death penalty. For by the same argument such "warriors" could be on a the warpath against it. I read over and over comments the equivalent of other countries have the death penalty so why don't we... and just weep. "Keeping the faith", remains difficult enough in America. I cannot imagine what it is in Israel. Civilization must begin somewhere, so please try. There must be hope. Please consider that we have no real treatment for prisoners here in America, and the numbers of the incarcerated are rising rapidly. Nor does forgiveness reign in this land. Ethically we may not be an advanced society in America to eradicate the death penalty. I don't know. I hope Israel are. Civilization must start somewhere, please do not let the outside world poison the Jewish faith.

I guess that Torah's teachings, also about such important subject, are -as obvious- perfect for our days.

I am totally in favor of the killing of terrorists. The problem is that an Israeli court, controlled by the leftist mafia, will never give a death sentence. The law is on the books. The only way is to keep the courts and the media out of the process and make sure the terrorist is not apprehended alive. or if he needs to be interrogated, he unfortunately was killed trying to escape. Unfortunately there is a problem with secrecy because Israel is rife with information leaks. In answer to the claim that more Israelis will be killed, that's nonsense. Kill as many terrorists as possible, all the time. Don't wait for them to attack. Go get them first. Collateral killing of their civilian supporters should not be avoided. Gala funerals of dead terrorists should be bombed from the air. Bottom line: the only way we can do this is with a Torah government and courts.

Interesting that when discussing the death penalty no one ever talks about the victims. Forget deterrents, forget political objectives- the victims' families deserve the comfort of watching their family member's murderer die. Many say the death penalty is not about revenge. It should be. Revenge in many cases is a moral imperative and should be pursued as an end in itself. It is often the only way a victim can achieve closure. Not to take revenge on murderers shows a complete disrespect for human life and profanes God's name. I would think that after the holocaust Jews would have grown tired of playing the role of passive victim- we apparently have not. Israel's refusal to execute terrorists does not show moral courage. It shows Israel's moral cowardice in a feeble and pathetic attempt to gain favor with hypocritical gentile nations that know nothing of what justice truly means. We are not Christians. Pacifism and "turning the other cheek" is totally in opposition to Judaism. Jews must take an active role in healing the world. Part of that task is eliminating murderous ideologies when we can by eliminating those who promote them. Another point some people bring up is the idea that sometimes innocent people are put to death. When such a tragedy occurs it is indeed very sad. However, this is the cost of having a system of laws and justice. Is it better that sometimes innocent people are jailed for life? Is the tragedy of wrongful life imprisonment somehow more palatable? If we are going to have any sort of punishment for crimes, occasionally someone will be wrongfully convicted. This is regrettable, but frankly this rare form of collateral damage is worth it. We are willing to accept that many innocent, brilliant young soldiers must die to preserve our sovereignty. We must accept that rarely an innocent must die to preserve justice.

I was sick when I saw the arrogant killers being released back to their people, for two coffins. Israel must execute these murderers, to protect the innocents. I frankly am so sick and tired of the Arab terrorists, getting away with their horrible deads against humanity as a whole

With blatant killings on Israel's innocent victims from the terrorists caught: the death penalty should be enforced without any consideration. This sick mentality should send a direct message before they anticipate their actions.

Yes, bring back the death penalty in Israel for terrorists, I wish they would in the U.K. too. God believes in the death penalty, Jesus had to die for the sake of everyone.

Yes, it should be an executable offense to engage in and perpetrate terrorisn within the confines of the State of Israel and to engage in anti-Semitic terrorism abroad. A reciprocal extradition agreement between Israel and as many countries as possible will ensure prosecution in Israel of those who engage in the latter. A slimmed-down fastrack prosecution and execution of those who engage in terrorism within Israel should also be instituted. If swaps between Israel and groups in Arab countries result in Israeli dead being repatriated, then the same should apply to those Israel hands over. This, in the interest of terrorists not reoffending and protecting future victims of terrorism abroad whatever their nationality or religion.

When a country so civilized as the U.S. can incarcerate a person for life for "spying" for an ally (read Jonathan Pollard) why shouldn't Israel execute known murderers (ie: terrorist and their ilk). I for one am sick and disgusted by the double standard put upon Israel by the rest of this anti-semetic world. If the uber liberals don't like it, to damned bad...Israel must do something about these murerous animals other than slapping them on the wrist. If you fear retaliation on the Jewish population, tell me something, what else is new...these bastards kill Jews with or without a retaliatory reason...so capitalize on capitol punishment, and a least the murderers you catch won't be doing it again...let them get their 72 virgins the old fashioned way: kill 'em.

YES TO DEATH PENALTY TO TERRORIST

I live in California, USA. In the days of the old west public hangings were commonplace for the bad guys, and everyone including young children watched. What a wonderful deterrent, knowing that if you did the crime, you were sure to hang. If someone is a murderer, look to the Bible for direction. Life for life is specified there. If you instigate the death penalty, the crime does not look so attractive to other up-and-coming murderers. Do it right away, taking affirmative action to stop the slaughter of innnocents!

It is a national embarrassment that Eichmann was the only prisoner ever executed by Israel. I suppose you've got to be REALLLLLY BAAAAD if you're going to receive a death sentence in Israel (like, Holocaust). Israel's lenient sentences to terrorists are nothing less than a gracious invitation to more acts of terror. Amazing that they could be so stupid.

This is a very important issue for our survival. These killers must get the death penalty for taking jewish lives. this is the only language the terrorist nations will understand.

In the case of releasing them for whatever reason, put a tracking device inside them as though they are an animal (which they are). Then, once they're free, put a target on them for assassination by the Mosad. If they are not convicted of murder, they can be tracked if they commit or help to commit another act of terror. Then target them for assassination. This way, Israel can still brag that it has no death penalty and get rid of this problem at the same time.

If the argument is the purely practical---that executions will prevent more kidnappings and murders---I don't think it is a very valid one, all it means is that terrorists will be kidnapping and killing to avenge the executions of other terrorists, rather than fighting for their release. God bless.

It has been discussed since the prior prisoner release which resulted in nothing else but resetiveism. If a terroist has murdered horrificaly then death should be the ultimate penalty. Get rid of them and there will be no need for release. Sometime the false morality of a country can lead to its downfall.

Yes, Yes , Yes, of course. In a war, people die. Israel will die if it fails to fight for its life. A tender hart is not so tender if it is dead.

If we revere life, our highest goal should be protecting the lives of innocents. Keeping thousands of murderous terrorists alive totally contradicts this purpose. It creates incentive for further kidnappings and terror by cohorts of terrorists, to press for their release. It sends the message to would be terrorist that they have little to fear. Of course, our experience in releasing terrorists proves that most return to terror. It is sheer madness not to execute terrorists.

If it is good enough for these terrorists to take human life then we must remember an eye for an eye, they will soongetthe message.

Invoking the death penalty may simply result in the retaliatory killing of Israelis who would otherwise be held as prisoners. Israel has to do a better job of negotiating. Releasing a bunch of convicted killers for the return of two bodies seems very one-sided. This time, how about offering the release of ONE prominent, rational Palestinian for the release of Gilad Shalit. Give it plenty of publicity to put the pressure on the Palestinians. It is time to reestablish some balance here.

As a Catholic Christian, we also believe in the sanctity of human life. But the Bible (Torah) does decipher the difference between murder and killing. I don't necessarily condone killing, but it these unrepetent terrorists are set free, they are then able to murder again. The Rabbi is correct when he declares that we need to uphold the infinite value of human life and these terrorists don't have that value. They're willing to commit suicide. As a Catholic, that is forbidden. We are made as a gift from God, and God decides when bring us to Him. The counterargument is theses terrorist groups who are holding the Israeli soldiers or innocent Jews in prison could end up murdering them also. Something to ponder.

Ah the Jews... we try to be civilized only to receive bones in coffins in exchange for terrorists set free into society. It's time we grew a spine and enforced proper retaliation. I'm sick and tired of hearing about the "rights" of terrorists like Suddam Hussein. The death penalty would send the rest of the world a message not to mess around with Israel, instead of the current state of affairs where we look like wimps--a total embarrassment to the world Jewry. Taking the lives of terrorists will ultimately save many, many innocent lives in the future, not to mention the financial and industrial resources needed to jail these killers. Also interesting how the same liberals who harp and preach about our imaginary over-population problem and are obsessed with population control and "humanism" (a contradiction right there!) would oppose executing killers...just a thought...

I believe That terrorists are commiters of the most heinous crimes against the innocent. Because it is a tactic by the sworn enemy of the Jewish people and becasue the Jewish government is too weak to say no to releasing terrorists for dead soldiers, land or any other reason terrorists should be met with the same fate the inflinct on others -death.

When applied fairly, and swiftly the death penalty is effective. Justice and common sense demand the ultimate penalty when it is appropriate. Pity for the guilty always ends with no pity for the innocent.

The known murderer surely deserves to die. Yet our enemies will murder ten times as many, a hundred times as many, in "revenge". This is what has happened in the past. We should not sink to their level of barbarism. But neither should we trade live terrorists for the remains of our soldiers. A life for a life, a carcass for a carcass, etc.

Had they've done so, there would have been minimal shellings,terrorist attacks, and murders. It would have certainly lower the crime rate in Israel. The who purpose of the death penalty is give give the would be murderers and criminals to think twice before carrying out atrocities and preventing innocent blood from being shed. It may not totally preclude bloodshed but it will definetly minimize the killings we see. Killing Jewish crimimals may raise a debate but I think all convicted Arab terrorists complicit in murdering Jews are all liable for execution and there should be no question about it.

These terrorists should be killed at the spot where they kill and not taken prisoner and put on trial - never held in prison and allowed tv, study, marriage etc ! unbelievable the conditions under which they are held prisoner !- this is stupidity not humane values !

How many Jewish lives could be saved if Israel used the death penalty. Today a terrorist knows that he can murder with impunity. He will get a few years (perhaps) in a prison which allows him a lot of freedoms, like ability to continue to connect with the world, visitors and humane treatment until his cohorts can execute his freedom either by kidnapping some hapless Israeli or by some dictate from Israel's friend who persuades Israel that she must give some kind of nice gesture to Israel's enemy for some reason or another.

Killing these murderers actuallt helps to preserve decent human lives.

To "Yes, But No" I disagree that the death penalty for terrorists would cause more Jewish deaths. Terrorists are sworn to kill as many Jews as they can. Nothing we do will increase that number. However, we can decrease the number of Jewish deaths if we provide the death penalty for terrorist murderers so they, at least, will be unable to kill again. The fact that released terrorists are welcomed by Arab governments with acclaim, only encourages more Arabs to follow suit and become murderers of Jews.

There's plenty of respect at the end of a gun barrel. Torah allows death of the unrepentant.

Obviously, it should be the Israelis’ decision to make. But the decision is not theirs to take. Caution is in order here. On an objective point of view, and in face of such a mega dilemma, one has to look at the big picture that goes beyond the borders of Israel. Israel knows that the world is watching every move they make, all windows are open on them. When they only kill to defend themselves, the world accuses them of murders. Israel has to watch every angle of their position. It’s no longer an eye for an eye. What some would call it weakness or softness is in fact being realistic. Death penalty to those murders would only escalate in hatred against the Jews all over the world. Of course, kill the bastards! But only in fighting. For one that will be executed, they will send hundreds to replace him, since life has no meaning for them. We care more about our dead than they do about their own alive. Death penalty makes you a killer too and Jews are not killers. Like I taught my children, do not attack but defend yourselves. Once more Israel is confronted with another challenge: what to do with these murders. I wonder what King Solomon would have suggested?

Do we have a right to take a life halachically? I believe if we were to look deeply into the teachings within the Torah, we may be able to find a justification, but it must be done with consciousness for the respect of life. It has always perplexed me that the leper would have to offer a guilt and sin offering [Vayikra/Leviticus 14:12-13] before being accepted back into society after becoming undeniably clean. What sin could he possibly be guilty of? Rabbis, through the brilliance of word association, attach such interpretations as lashan hara as an explanation, but the Torah per se does not explicitly say this. Torah must explain in terms ‘of the time,’ and in those days, the cause for disease was not understood, only the effect (as further repeated even in much later times by the accusation of Jews causing the Black Plague). Since the leper suffered, it would be understandable that humans could attribute the suffering to sin, and hence guilt. But the real fact was: Leprosy was highly contagious, without a known cure, and deadly. Hence, the only cure at that time could possibly be to separate the infected from the uninfected until it could be certain that the infection was cured, and to burn any article or associated structure which carried the infection and could not otherwise become cleansed. That is called survival, which for me is the Torah’s ultimate lesson. To me, anti-semitism is a disease no different than leprosy, caused by negative brainwashing resulting from and compounded with illiteracy, desperation, power and disrespect for life. It is a disease which is spread from parent to child, from leader to disciple, from teacher to student, who, without a societal effort to combat/cure the malignancy, trustingly becomes infected. It triggers the brain into the instinctual ‘fight/combat/survival’ mode at the mention of specific words, like Jew, Zionist, hate, instead of allowing the brain the ability to reason the situation/information rationally. Israelis are not 100% innocent of some of the accusations made by those infected with anti-semitism, even if that aggressive action was initially triggered by survival. [Note, however, that those deemed infected must also be dealt with.] But as long as Israelis remain cognizant of the innocent, and seek only to isolate malignant cells, in light of their own survival, then the question remains, what should be done with those infected with a highly contagious disease, so that it does not continue to spread. Again in my opinion, if after three sincere attempts to purify, a captured malignancy is found incurable and still highly contagious, and deadly, then in my opinion, it must be removed for the sake of survival and the protection of the uninfected. MSA 8-11-08

Why has there ever been any Question on this issue? Centuries ago, for reasons of the same gravity, Ha'Shem told the Prophet, "Kill Everything That Lay Before You ..." the Prophet took pity, weakened and disobeyed, sparing women ,children, and the aged... Ha'Shem told him that one day his disobedience and leaning to his own understanding was going to bite him in the ass ... and so it has. It is time that we start trusting Ha'Shem and do what is right, do what Torah teaches, without question, and stop worrying about Political Correctitude or hurting someone else's feelings ... We need to publically hang these momzers and leave them in the tree until they rot and drop off ... and use the action as a declaration that we are just NOT going to take it anymore ... We're not going to divide Jeruselem nor give away the Land that Ha'Shem gave to US ... No more appeasement, no more looking the other way ... We should dispatch ten of theirs for every one of ours they have taken ... Genug es genug.

After fair trial and if no shaddow of doubt exists regarding having commited murder or treason,should face death penalty without further delay or procrastination

On one hand, terrorist murderers deserve execution, and we shouldn't apologize for it. On the other hand, if we know that any of our kidnapped soldiers are still alive, this may give the Arab captors more incentive to murder them. Here's my take. Eretz Yisrael needs to stop apologizing for its actions and start taking offensive action. If any of our soldiers gets kidnapped, we need to forget negotiations and just go in and get them back. And if the UN doesn't like it, well, tough on them. And if Israel captures any terrorists, they can then give the terrorist murderers what they deserve. The point is that we must ensure the safety of our chayalim as best we can and stop apologizing for any of it.

Not only should Israel institute the death penalty for proven murderers, they should limit exposure of prisoners to their families and media. I am speaking as an Israeli.

It would give them less incentive to kidnap Israelis if they have no one to bargain for.

In TORAH as well as in THE BIBLE with two or more witnesses execute in appropriate maner.Not to sit in a jail for an extended time-3 months max. Kay

The death penalty for terrorists figures in israeli law ,it urges to applicate it not only for those murders but also for their helpers and spies .

Ehud Olmert, who is a fool, stated that the July/08 prisoner exchange showed Israel's "moral might" to the world. If so, that was a "moral might" so obscure, so far beyond anyone's comprehension, that any message in it was irrelevant. What the miserable affair actually showed was (& here we go for the billionth time) Jewish softness & weakness, with an Israel so pathetically desperate for "peace" with the local goons that it there is no limit to its groveling. It's like baking a cake for all the neighborhood bullies so they'll stop beating you up. Israel should have have shot Kuntar & then billed his family for the cost of his room & board plus the bullet.

Certainly terrorists like Sami Kuntar should be pout to death. But before any could be executed, Arabs, in Israel or anywhere in the world, would kidnap several Israelis -- or even Jews --and would kill them the moment Israel executes a terrorist. So, justifiable as it is, a death penalty for terrorists would be a serious mistake.

FOR TERRORIST AND FOR FIRST DEGREE MURDERERS IS A YES. IT IS LONG TIME OVER DUE TO HAVE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR CAPITAL CRIMES.

Terrorist KS, who already killed innocent people, then was set free, then stated he'd kill more jews, should now be traced and liquidated. This is no death penalty, but preventive measure by anyone under threat of being killed. After writing "Mein Kampf" AH should have likewise been liquidated. Do not wait to get killed, especially in the face of an open and freely uttered intention for you to get killed.

Alternatively they end up back in the street through a prisoner exchange comropomise.

I have an even better idea, one that bypasses any legal conundrums and moral issues. When a terrorist commits an act of terror, and is pinned down and about to be caught, empty an Uzi clip into him, and make sure he is dead. No one can argue that he deserved to die at that moment, because you were preventing him from causing further damage, and no one has to know that he was neutralized before you eliminated him. Besides, the modern Moslem terrorist has a suicide death wish mindset when he/she sets out to commit their deed. So it can be argued that killing them after they are caught is tantamount to accomodating them anyhow. And in closing, I can think of many better ways to spend tax money than wasting it keeping a terrorist's life sustained.

NO to death penalty. We haven't a divine Sanhedrin to decide who lives and who's not.

There is a very simple set of moral questions when it comes to capital punishment.

The First: Is it ever ok to execute?

The Second: Can a human court administer the death penalty fairly and with certainty that they have the right man - with certainty that they are not about to execute an innocent?

The Talmud approaches this rather directly. The answer to one, is yes. Some people have it coming.

I will be blunt and say that it offends me that I share the same air with a beast like Kuntar. He has so degraded himself and fallen so far that he does not have any human rights anymore, simply because monsters are not humans. Provided we do it quickly and do not degrade ourselves through sadism, it is frankly a duty to improve someone like him with a bullet.

As to question two, this is the rub. If you execute an innocent, that is called murder. It is murder by the state, but let's not kid ourselves. The idea of executing an innocent should give anyone pause about applying or allowing capital punishment. There have been dozens of men exonerated from death row in America. Unfortunately, many of them posthumously.

Again, the Talmud is very clear. They had the death penalty, but they made it very very hard to apply in practice. The rules of evidence were very stringent to say the least. Most importantly, the sages of Israel agonized over the thought of potentially having to execute. They respected the responsibility too much and feared Hashem too much to take it lightly.

Taking this into modern context, we need to answer the questions.

In the case of your typical terrorist animal, their crimes are certainly egregious enough to warrant death. It is hard to debate that a fiend like Kuntar could somehow be rehabilitated. Further, it is morally unclear if it appropriate to try.

As to question two, we caught him red handed - quite literally. There is no question of his guilt.

This comes to a final societal question.There are hungry kids in Israel. There are elderly in Israel. The state does not need to divert resources keeping such as Kuntar alive, when those resources could better serve those who are more deserving.

There is also the issue of the fact that this is an avowed enemy of the people. He wants you, your family and your pet dog dead. He will work hard to achieve that goal and inspire others like him. Letting him go alive, not only rewarded the terrorists and inspired them to more such acts, but it is truly a clear case of being merciful to those who deserve justice leading to cruelty to those who deserve mercy.

Simply put, we should have put two rounds in the back of his head the second before we turned him over.

I believe that Isreal has been extremely patient, it's about time that those who murder Jews should also be put to death for their terror activity.