The European Union is "opposed to the death penalty under all circumstances," an EU spokesperson said on Thursday, a day after the Knesset passed a preliminary vote to amend the penal code to make it easier for courts to sentence perpetrators convicted of terrorist murders to death.
Israeli military courts – which handle cases involving Palestinians in Judea and Samaria – already have the power to issue the death sentence, although this has never been implemented.
Currently, the death penalty can only be imposed if a panel of three military judges unanimously pass a sentence to this effect.
If the amendment is adopted, a majority verdict would suffice.
To become law, the amendment must pass three more Knesset readings.
The only case of an execution in Israel was carried out against convicted Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.
