A new Mashav Channel poll, conducted by the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, shows that an overwhelming 81% of Israel’s Jewish public supports applying the death penalty to Hamas’s elite Nukhba forcw terrorists.
According to the survey, 11% of respondents opposed the measure, while 8% said they were unsure. The poll was conducted as part of the Tzohar Index for Judaism and Tradition and was published amid public and parliamentary debate surrounding the death penalty bill for terrorists, which passed its first reading in the Knesset this week.
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, one of Tzohar’s senior rabbis and head of its Ethics Department, commented that the broad support is understandable in light of the atrocities committed by the terrorists. However, he cautioned against blanket legislation mandating the death penalty for all terrorists.
“We deeply believe that human beings are created in the image of God,” he said, “but there are also people who have lost that image, and when they act as the Nukhba did-they are deserving of death.”
Rabbi Cherlow added that the proposed comprehensive legislation raises both practical and moral concerns. Practically, he noted, many experts believe that the death penalty would not strengthen deterrence and could even prove harmful-by turning terrorists into “martyrs” and increasing the risk to other Jewish lives.
“The death penalty is irreversible, and if a mistake occurs-it’s terrible and tragic,” he warned.
He also expressed concern that a systemic use of capital punishment could lead to the creation of execution roles within Israeli institutions-something that does not fit the moral character of Israeli society.
Nevertheless, Rabbi Cherlow emphasized that in the case of Nukhba terrorists, who carried out “cruel, deliberate, and clear” attacks, the death penalty is the right punishment from the perspective of justice, morality, and practicality.
However, he concluded that automatic legislation requiring capital punishment without judicial discretion would be wrong: “Not because I want to protect them,” he said, “but because I want to protect us.”
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