Bennett: 'Killer terrorists will never see the light of day'

Bayit Yehudi leader looks ahead to panel vote on bill seeking to amend Basic Law, allow courts to sentence murderers to life in prison without parole; "the time has come to put an end" to freeing murderous terrorists, he says.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, LAHAV HARKOV
Naftali Bennett 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Naftali Bennett 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett pledged on Saturday "to put an end" to freeing murderous terrorists ahead of a Knesset panel vote Sunday on a bill that if passed could be used to prevent the release of terrorists in future peace talks.
"For the last thirty years Israeli governments have been releasing murderous terrorists. Sometimes in exchange for something. Sometimes in exchange for nothing," Bennett said on Facebook late Saturday. 
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation was set to vote on the bill seeking to allow courts to sentence murderers to life in prison without parole.
The Bayit Yehudi leader vowed to forge ahead with his opposition to Israel's release of Palestinian terrorists.
"We will continue to do the right thing: Killer terrorists will never see the light of day," Bennett charged.
"The time has come to put an end to this," he said.
The proposed legislature aims to allow the courts to use the heavy sentence, which blocks the president’s ability to pardon criminals in special cases like terrorist attacks, murder with nationalist motivations, or murder of children.
The legislation is an amendment to Basic Law: The Presidency, which currently says the president may pardon any criminal.
If the change becomes law, it will allow judges to use their discretion on whether a murder is a “special case” or not, meaning there is a possibility that law may never be put to use even if it is passed.
The bill was proposed by Bayit Yehudi faction chairwoman Ayelet Shaked and MK David Tsur (Hatnua) and co-sponsored by coalition chairman Yariv Levin (Likud Beytenu), MKs Robert Ilatov (Likud Beytenu), Orit Struck (Bayit Yehudi), Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Bayit Yehudi), Motti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi) and Yisrael Hasson (Kadima).