The first to be executed? The terrorist from the spring and the question of implementing the death penalty law

The terrorist Qadri Samara, who shot and killed Natanel Shakron at the spring in Binyamin, is the first to whom the death penalty law for terrorists is supposed to apply. Minister Ben Gvir demanded his execution, but the path is long: the law has yet to pass the Supreme Court test, the Attorney General has yet to respond to petitions, and military judges can avoid a death sentence through "special reasons."

The terrorist Qadri Samara, a resident of the village of Bidu near Jerusalem, was captured in a clinic in Ramallah after shooting and killing Natanel Shakron, a father of six from Eli, at the spring in Binyamin. He is the first terrorist to whom the death penalty law for terrorists, finally approved by the Knesset in March 2026, is supposed to apply. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who promoted the law, demanded "execution now." However, the path is long: petitions against the law were filed by left-wing and human rights organizations, but Supreme Court Justice Yechiel Kasher decided not to issue an order freezing the law. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has yet to respond to the petitions. Additionally, the new law ostensibly requires the military court judge to impose a death sentence, but the legislator left judges discretion to avoid it "for special reasons to be recorded in the verdict." In the state's history, the death penalty has only been used in the case of Adolf Eichmann. The terrorist from the spring may be the first to be executed—or the first to bring about the de facto burial of the law.