Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is threatening to resign if a bill requiring the death penalty for those found guilty of terrorist murders is passed, Channel 10 News reported on Sunday evening.
Weinstein reportedly said in private conversations, in reference to the bill submitted by MK Sharon Gal (Yisrael Beytenu), that “if the death penalty is enacted in Israel I will not remain in office even one day.”
The Attorney General told his associates that the death penalty is "unwise, ineffective and immoral,” according to Channel 10.
The comments came hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu foiled a planned discussion of the bill by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.
Netanyahu, who opposes the initiative, decided to instead establish a government commission to examine the issues pertaining to the proposed law.
Headed by Tourism minister Yariv Levin (Likud), the commission will include representatives from each of the different coalition factions, of which Yisrael Beytenu is not a member.
Gal reacted angrily to the political maneuvering, announcing his rejection of the "Prime Minister's proposal to postpone the vote on the law of the death penalty against terrorists, and instead establish a committee that will in effect bury the law."
"The Prime Minister's decision is further proof that this non-nationalist government is failing to take action according to the principles of the national camp," Gal charged.
"Just as this government is not working to eradicate Hamas' terrorist rule in Gaza, it is thwarting the struggle against terror and terrorists operating within Israel."
"Yisrael Beytenu will raise the bill before the Knesset this week and I hope by then all those who consider themselves part of the national camp, including the Prime Minister, will come to their senses and support the law," Gal concluded.