Israel's parliament has passed the first reading of a bill proposing the death penalty for those it deems to be terrorists acting against the state - a requirement which means it is likely to be used only against Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis.
The far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir - whose Jewish Power party brought the vote - celebrated late on Monday by handing out sweets after the bill was approved in the 120-seat Knesset by 39 votes to 16.
After the law is finally passed - terrorists will only be released to hell, he said.
The bill must pass two more readings before becoming law.
In the same session, the Knesset also approved the first reading of another controversial bill allowing the Israeli government to close a foreign media outlet without court approval. That vote was 50 in favour and 41 against.
While the death penalty does exist for a small number of crimes in Israel it has only been used twice since 1948 when the state was created. The last time was when the Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, was hanged in 1962, after a public trial.
The statement read: It is proposed that a terrorist convicted of murder motivated by racism or hatred towards the public, and under circumstances where the act was committed with the intent to harm the State of Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish nation in its homeland will be sentenced to the death penalty - mandatory.
The clause about harming Israel makes it likely that Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks, but not Jewish Israelis, will be sentenced to death.
The foreign ministry of the Palestinian Authority called the proposed law a new form of escalating Israeli extremism and criminality against the Palestinian people.
