National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s proposed death penalty bill for terrorists is an abject abomination for Israel and for twenty-first-century Judaism. As a former Jewish prison chaplain and co-founder of “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” – an international group comprising thousands of members – I am keenly aware of this reality.

We began L’chaim five years ago during the federal execution spree of the United States government under convicted felon Donald Trump’s first presidential administration. As a Jewish chaplain for the federal government, I could not conscience my government and employer putting human beings to death against their will. Since that time, L’chaim’s members like me have corresponded and communicated with just about all of the over 100 human beings – Jewish and non-Jewish – who have been put to death in the United States. We have witnessed first-hand the psychological and often physical torture that state and federal governments have carried out in the bastardized name of “justice.”

L’chaim has devoted well over one hundred Times of Israel blog posts to detailing why twenty-first century Judaism – in the shadow of the Holocaust – must recognize that when it comes to capital punishment, to quote Elie Wiesel, “death is not the answer.” In L’chaim’s first post, we stated outright that “The Death Penalty is an Abomination.” Now, with Israel’s Knesset debating enacting Ben Gvir’s medieval bill, the current moment justifies the use of this potent language yet again.

An “abomination,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is “something that causes disgust or hatred.” Few other words capture the essence of the death penalty proposal. L’chaim has outlined ad........

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