{"id":96511,"date":"2026-05-04T04:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/96511\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T04:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:08:09","slug":"the-blogs-israels-latest-reminder-that-the-death-penalty-celebrates-state-killings-michael-zoosman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/96511\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blogs: Israel\u2019s Latest Reminder that the Death Penalty Celebrates State Killings | Michael Zoosman"},"content":{"rendered":"

We, the thousands of members of \u201cL\u2019chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty<\/a>\u201d from Israel and across the world, categorically condemn the latest display of the macabre celebration of death and killing associated with Israel\u2019s recently passed \u201cDeath Penalty for Terrorists\u201d Law. In the most recent example of how this law opens a veritable Pandora\u2019s Box of death<\/a>, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir\u2019s wife Ayala presented<\/a> him with a cake featuring a large picture of a noose at his 50th birthday party this week. The cake includes the text \u201csometimes dreams do come true\u201d printed in Hebrew on the icing. The noose and message, of course, is a reference to the controversial law mandating the death penalty for Palestinians terrorists, which has long been championed by Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party.\n<\/p>\n

As Linda Dayan of Haaretz has rightfully argued<\/a>, this charade is undoubtedly a political maneuver by Ben Gvir to grab headlines, even if as a target of loathing. In doing so, however, he is once again playing with fire. His noose-laden birthday cake is but the latest iteration of many similar ploys since the start of his death campaign. Taken together, they reveal just how dangerously far the Far Right has moved the needle of reason and respect for human rights in Israel.\n<\/p>\n

Such a debauched spectacle normally would not merit a response. Tragically, the level of bloodlust that permeates the present zeitgeist and the fact that this law has indeed come to fruition necessitate our doing just that. Not to counter such a display would risk further normalizing it.\n<\/p>\n

Ben Gvir\u2019s Pre-Passover \u201cTo Death\u201d Toast\n<\/p>\n

An egregious previous example of this horrific kind of political theatre occurred on March 30, 2026, just before Passover, the most widely observed Jewish holiday. It was then that Ben Gvir celebrated<\/a> the passing of his pet racist, dangerous, vengeful, and unjust<\/a> death penalty law by raising a champagne bottle and drinking to victory. The customary toast in Jewish tradition, of course, is to exclaim \u201cL\u2019chaim!\u201d, meaning \u201cto Life!\u201d Partly for this reason, the name chosen for the Jewish anti-death penalty group that now includes thousands of members in Israel and abroad is \u201cL\u2019chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty.\u201d Those MKs (Members of the Knesset) who support this law have upended the phrase meant to evoke Judaism\u2019s core life-affirming principles.\n<\/p>\n

While Ben G\u2019vir claims to be a pious and observant Jew, his actions once again reveal his blatant disregard for Jewish values and mockery of Jewish ritual symbolism. He might as well have screamed \u201cLamavet\u201d (\u201cTo Death\u201d) for his celebratory toast. Make no mistake: the passage of this death penalty law will certainly bring death for both convicted terrorists and innocent Israelis and Jews across the world. It is an abject abomination<\/a> that will prove disastrous, for multiple reasons.\n<\/p>\n

MK Limor Son Har-Melech\u2019s Purim Death Penalty Costume\n<\/p>\n

The manner in which Ben Gvir and his wife chose to celebrate his birthday with a baked centerpiece of death calls to mind how another member of the Knesset chose to dress for the festive holiday Purim earlier this year. MK Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) had herself photographed in the costume of what one Haaretz commentator has appropriately dubbed<\/a> a \u201cDeath Eater\u201d (of Harry Potter infamy) in the service of the state. The Israeli lawmaker was dressed in an Israel Prison Service jumpsuit, with a noose in one hand and a syringe of poison in the other. Next to her, in a white dress shirt, was her husband, Yehuda, packing an automatic rifle in what very well may have been an homage to the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein<\/a> and wearing signs reading \u201cexpulsion,\u201d \u201cconquest,\u201d and \u201csettlement.\u201d Indeed, if one such \u201cDeath Eater\u201d were not enough for the aforementioned commentator, Ben Gvir\u2019s symbolic eating of death for his birthday certainly would take the cake.)\n<\/p>\n

Leaving aside the dangerous implications of Yehuda\u2019s chosen garb, it behooves L\u2019chaim to unpack the costume choice of the Member of Knesset. Her wardrobe selection was far worse than a fashion faux pas. Her shameless action celebrated lethal symbols, one of which \u2013 lethal injection \u2013 is an unquestionable and unconscionable direct Nazi legacy<\/a>. Ben Gvir has often suggested this so-called \u201cNazi needle\u201d as a means for state killing. This abject abomination represents the kind of legacy<\/a> that any such death penalty bill would perpetuate.\n<\/p>\n

MK Son Har-Melech\u2019s costume, like Ben Gvir\u2019s birthday cake and his continuous wearing of a noose-shaped lapel to Knesset hearings and elsewhere in public, glorifies killing and sanctifies revenge<\/a> in a manner that is not befitting of any civilized society.\n<\/p>\n

The Death Penalty Brings out the \u201cWorst of the Worst\u201d in Humanity\n<\/p>\n

Many supporters claim that society reserves capital punishment for\u00a0 \u201cthe worst of the worst,\u201d a patently false notion. The only \u201cworst of the worst\u201d that applies concerning lex talionis is the reality that the prospect of executions brings out the darkest aspects of human nature in all those who crave it: vengeance, bloodlust, the desire to inflict pain, suffering, and death. The man-made Angel of Death that is capital punishment inevitably carries each of these in spades. Ben Gvir\u2019s birthday cake, his noose lapel, and MK Son Har-Melech\u2019s deplorable Purim behavior and post underscores this tragic truth. They unveil the true, vengeful intention<\/a> that lies at the heart of the death penalty law that now goes before the Israeli Supreme Court for review.\n<\/p>\n

Before brandishing such gruesome symbols as a noose and a syringe on these celebratory occasions, Ben Gvir and Son Har-Melech might have taken a moment to realize the full, perilous implications of readers treating Purim\u2019s Book of Esther as a literal guide for living in the twenty-first century. The example of Baruch Goldstein and brutal execution regimes like Iran reinforce this reality. L\u2019chaim highlighted this juxtaposition in a recent post entitled Haman and his 10 Sons: 11 Reasons to Oppose Israel\u2019s Death Penalty this Purim<\/a>. We outlined the truths about Israel\u2019s death penalty bill in that essay, and we reiterate them here.\n<\/p>\n

The death penalty will increase \u2013 not decrease \u2013 terrorist attacks in Israel, creating more murders and martyrs (<\/a>shahids)<\/a>, and endangering Jews worldwide<\/a>. It risks executing the innocent.<\/a> Jewish tradition<\/a> makes the death penalty virtually impossible to carry out. Like tasteless Purim masks, terms like \u201cdeterrence<\/a>,\u201d which is a fallacious delusion when applied to the death penalty,<\/a>\u00a0 and \u201cretributive\u201d or \u201cproportional\u201d justice are veils for vengeance<\/a>, which does not bring closure<\/a> for murder victims\u2019 loved ones. The death penalty is racist.<\/a> It often results in physical torture<\/a>, and always is psychological<\/a> torture for individuals counting down to their execution day. There is no humane way to execute human beings against their will. The death penalty will traumatize<\/a> the Israel Prison Service executioners<\/a>. From Adolph Hitler to Donald Trump<\/a> and now Ithamar Ben Gvir<\/a>, the death penalty is used as a political tool, particularly for election campaigns. And, last but far from least, it violates the human right to life<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Instead of celebrating death, we ask readers to recall the words of Elie Wiesel, whose views encapsulate the stance of L\u2019chaim\u2019s members. When questioned about his feelings on capital punishment, Wiesel resolutely stated, \u201cDeath should never be the answer in a civilized society.\u201d<\/a> By the end of his life, Wiesel publicly said that he made no exception<\/a> to this rule, stating: \u201cWith every cell of my being and with every fiber of my memory, I oppose the death penalty in all forms. I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s human to become an agent of the angel of death.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Twenty-first-century Judaism must hold by the red line that Wiesel set forth. It cannot mirror Hamas<\/a>, Iran<\/a>, Saudi Arabia<\/a>, Yemen<\/a>, and others by violating its moral obligations and ethical standards and engaging in state-sponsored killings of defenseless prisoners. With Wiesel\u2019s neshama in mind and heart, and on behalf of all L\u2019chaim members, we respectfully implore Israel to join civilized humanity and abolish the death penalty once and for all. The first step toward doing so is the Israeli Supreme Court unconditionally repealing the abject abomination that is Israel\u2019s new death penalty law.\n<\/p>\n

Cantor Michael J. Zoosman, MSM, BCC\n<\/p>\n

Co-Founder: L\u2019chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Advisory Committee Member: Death Penalty Action<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tCantor Michael Zoosman (he\/him\/his) is a Certified Spiritual Care Practitioner with the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care\/Association canadienne de soins spirituels (CASC\/ACSS) and received his cantorial ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2008. He sits as an Advisory Committee Member at Death Penalty Action and is the co-founder of \u201cL\u2019chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty.\u201d The work of L’chaim has received international press across the world, including from the BBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian, Fox News, News Nation, The Washington Post, Democracy Now!, The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, The Jewish Forward, The Times of Israel, JTA, and Newsweek. Cantor Zoosman frequently contributes op-eds to The Jurist and Counterpunch, among others. The work of L\u2019chaim also can be found on Substack at https:\/\/open.substack.com\/pub\/michaelzoosman.
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\nA Jewish prison chaplain and psychiatric hospital chaplain, Cantor Zoosman currently serves as a Spiritual Health Practitioner (Chaplain) for various mental health outreach teams, working with individuals in the community living with severe mental health disorders and addiction. He lives with his family in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is a Progressive Zionist. His opinions are his own.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We, the thousands of members of \u201cL\u2019chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty\u201d from Israel and across the world,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[17850,33923,37,8750,4028],"class_list":{"0":"post-96511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-death-penalty","9":"tag-elie-wiesel","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-itamar-ben-gvir","12":"tag-knesset"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116514344298824995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}