The foreign ministers of the G4 expressed concern over the death penalty in Israel
The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom have expressed deep concern over a bill currently under consideration in Israel that would expand the scope of the death penalty.
This is stated in a joint statement by the foreign ministers of the Group of Four, published on the website of the German Foreign Ministry.
“We are particularly concerned about the effectively discriminatory nature of this bill. Its adoption could jeopardize Israel’s commitment to democratic principles,” the joint statement by the foreign ministers notes.
The ministers emphasized that the death penalty is an inhumane and degrading form of punishment that has no deterrent effect, and underscored the fundamental value of abolishing the death penalty. They called on Israeli lawmakers and government officials to refrain from passing this bill.
Earlier, the Israeli parliament—the Knesset—passed a bill in its first reading that would require courts to impose the death penalty on terrorists convicted of killing Israeli citizens.
