There are crimes that test the limits of mercy. And then there is terrorism.

On March 30, the Knesset approved legislation expanding capital punishment for terrorists convicted of intentional killing. Critics call it barbaric. But before condemning Israel, they should confront a harder question: What punishment is proportionate for someone who deliberately murders innocent people as an ideological act designed to terrorize an entire society?

That question cannot be answered with slogans about vengeance. It requires a serious conversation about justice.

Terrorism Is Not Ordinary Murder

A terrorist who enters a home and murders a family is not simply another murderer. A gunman who attacks civilians at a synagogue or music festival is committing violence intended to reach beyond those immediately killed.

Terrorism weaponizes murder. The dead are used to frighten the living.

That is why democracies treat terrorism differently from ordinary crime. Intelligence agencies pursue terrorists across borders, militaries target commanders, governments freeze assets, and criminal laws impose special penalties. Terrorism is violence directed not only against individuals, but against the public itself.

Why, then, should punishment pretend otherwise?

October 7 Changed the Moral Landscape

For Israelis, this debate cannot be separated from October 7.

The atrocities committed that day demonstrated........

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