National security minister calls for death penalty for terrorist in Sunday shooting attack

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has called for the death penalty law to be implemented in the case of the terrorist involved in the shooting attack in Benjamin, hours before the start of Yom Kippur, in which Netanel Shukrun was killed. 

In a security cabinet meeting held Sunday afternoon, before the start of the Yom Kippur fast, Ben Gvir demanded that the recently passed law be applied in the case of the terrorist, who was captured by IDF units at a hospital in Ramallah. 

The cabinet decided to schedule another meeting, including the Military Advocate-General, to examine the legal aspects of applying the law in this case. 

The cabinet meeting was called by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the security situation in Judea and Samaria following the attack, as well as reports of confrontations between Palestinians and several settler groups in the disputed territories.

According to Hebrew media reports, the IDF officials raised no objections to implementing the death penalty in the case.

Ben Gvir released a video statement demanding the death penalty in this case, saying the circumstances are exactly what the law was intended to handle. 

“This is the first case in which the death penalty law for terrorists can be implemented,” Ben Gvir said. “In this case, there is a mandatory punishment here, and therefore we demand that this punishment be applied and that the execution of the terrorist be implemented. A law is a law – this is the law we passed, this is the law that allows the terrorist to be executed, and this is the opportunity.” 

The Israeli High Court of Justice has not yet ruled on the new law and the current case could provide a first opportunity to weigh in on the legal requirements of implementing the death penalty in cases of terrorism. 

Dr. Amir Fuchs of the Israel Democracy Institute believes the law is likely to face a legal challenge, particularly because it mandates the death penalty for a Palestinian terrorist who kills a Jewish citizen. 

Speaking to Channel 12 News shortly after the bill passed its first reading in November 2025, Fuchs said, “Nowhere in the democratic world is the death penalty mandatory; the court or the prosecution must always have discretion regarding the requested sentence.” 

He noted that even in the case of Nazi officials, such as Adolf Eichmann, the death penalty was considered the maximum sentence, but not mandatory. 

“This is the sort of thing courts tend to strike down, as no such mandatory penalty exists in democratic countries that retain the death penalty (such as the U.S.), nor did it exist in Israel regarding the death penalty for Nazis (where it was a maximum penalty, but not a mandatory one),” Fuchs stated. 

Knesset Member Limor Son Har Melech, a member of Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power party, whose husband was killed by a terrorist, also called for the death penalty in the current case. 

“It is precisely for this moment that I fought for years to pass the law,” Har Melech said, adding, “It was not enacted to remain on paper, but to be implemented.” 

On Sunday, Qadri Samara, a 37-year-old Hamas activist from the town of Bidu, near Jerusalem, approached the Ein Raya spring near Neve Tzuf, opening fire on Jewish settlers who had come to perform ritual immersion ahead of the Yom Kippur fast. 

The IDF later said that the terrorist had visited the spring the previous day to observe the location and plan his attack. 

Netanel Shukrun, a resident of Alei Zahav, was hit and seriously injured in the attack. Shortly after being transferred to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah, Shukrun was declared dead. 

All Yom Kippur, I kept thinking of Netanel Shukun hy"d, his widow, his 6 children, his son who was with him when he was murdered. Devastating.

The usual comments - "Why was he living in a settlement?" - come up, and all I have to say is that 69 years ago his grandfather, who… https://t.co/9P93lEtuCT pic.twitter.com/ZKtr8bWnDq

— Daniel | דניאל 𓉱 (@DanitheSett) September 21, 2026

Shukrun was buried on Monday night, after the end of the fast, where he was eulogized by his family, including his 16-year-old son, Yoav, who was with him when he was shot. 

“Dad, I want to say thank you for 16 years together,” Yoav said at the funeral. “Thank you for shouting to me when the terrorist came in. I don’t remember what you said, and I escaped. Thank you for saving my life, thank God I survived, and I want to tell the family that we will carry on together and it will be okay.”