Israel Has Every Right To Punish Terrorists, But Ben-Gvir’s Gallows Execution Complex With Viewing Booths Turns Justice Into A Macabre Spectacle Of Death
Now The End Begins has stood unapologetically with the Jewish people and the nation of Israel for nearly two decades, and that will not change. But biblical support for Israel does not require giving Israeli politicians a blank check, and Itamar Ben-Gvir’s plans for an execution complex containing gallows with viewing booths cross a disturbing line between the solemn administration of justice and the creation of a spectacle surrounding death. This will undoubtedly turn the entire world against the Jews and Israel.
Something very dark and deeply unsettling is taking shape in Israel, and those of us who genuinely love the Jewish people should be willing to say so without hesitation. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has been publicly promoting the construction of an execution facility for terrorists sentenced to death under Israel’s new death-penalty legislation. The proposed complex is not merely being discussed as a secure place where lawful executions would occur behind prison walls; reports surrounding the project describe gallows for hanging condemned prisoners along with designated viewing areas where surviving victims of terrorist attacks and members of bereaved families could witness those executions.
“Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.” Isaiah 28:14 (KJB)
That distinction is what makes this story so disturbing. There is an enormous difference between a government deciding, after due process and conviction for murder, that a criminal deserves the death penalty, and a government intentionally designing facilities so grieving relatives can sit and watch the condemned man drop through a gallows. The first is the administration of judgment by civil authority. The second begins to transform judgment into something theatrical, emotional and dangerously close to ritualized vengeance. You will also note that this same application of justice is not applied to Israelis convicted of them same type of crimes. It is only for the Palestinians.
Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir seen here showing you the new gallows execution complex where Palestinian terrorists will be hung. He is also pointing out that there will be a viewing area for people to watch the executions. Prophecy is unfolding while we watch. pic.twitter.com/b0D6M8enFU
— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) August 20, 2026
Now let me make something perfectly clear at the outset, because the Bible is perfectly clear about it: capital punishment is not inherently immoral. Long before the Law of Moses was given to Israel, God established the principle of human government after the Flood and connected the shedding of a murderer’s blood directly to the fact that human beings are created in the image of God.
“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” Genesis 9:6 (KJB)
Under Paul’s doctrine for the Church Age, the God-given authority of civil government to punish evildoers remains equally plain. Paul did not describe government as carrying an ornamental sword or an empty symbol of authority. He said the ruler “beareth not the sword in vain,” and identified the magistrate as a minister of God authorized to execute wrath upon the person who does evil.
“For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” Romans 13:4 (KJB)
There is therefore nothing unbiblical about saying that a murderer deserves death, and there is nothing unbiblical about Israel severely punishing terrorists who intentionally slaughter innocent people. After the barbarity of October 7, 2023, no reasonable person should have difficulty understanding the fury felt by Israelis who buried husbands, wives, children, parents and friends because terrorists deliberately invaded their communities to murder, rape, kidnap and terrorize. Israel has every right to protect its citizens, pursue terrorists and administer punishment against men convicted of intentionally murdering innocent people. Justice matters because human life matters. Punishment matters because God has ordained civil authority to restrain evil in a fallen world. But biblical justice and the enjoyment of vengeance are not the same thing, and that is precisely where the proposed viewing booths raise a very serious moral question.
Justice Should Be Solemn, Not Theatrical
A government execution should be one of the most sober, and somber, things a state ever does. Even when the condemned person has committed atrocities beyond description, the execution represents the government exercising the ultimate earthly penalty against a human being whose life is about to end. It should therefore be approached with gravity, restraint and solemnity rather than with celebration, political showmanship or anything resembling entertainment.
That is why the idea of specially designed viewing booths is so troubling. Supporters can argue that allowing victims and bereaved relatives to witness an execution may provide some sense of closure, and similar arrangements exist in certain jurisdictions elsewhere in the world. But the deliberate incorporation and public promotion of victim viewing areas alongside gallows gives the entire project a character that goes beyond simply carrying out a lawful sentence. It begins to create an environment in which the death of the condemned becomes part of an emotional experience being offered to those who have suffered because of him.
The Bible warns directly about what happens in the human heart when an enemy falls.
“Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.” Proverbs 24:17,18 (KJB)
There is the biblical balance that modern politics so often loses. God judges wickedness, God authorizes government to punish evildoers, and God has never commanded His people to pretend that evil deserves no consequences. At the same time, God warns against allowing the heart to delight in the downfall of an enemy. Justice may demand that a murderer die, but righteousness does not require anyone to enjoy watching him die. That is where this entire project begins to feel macabre. The gallows themselves are severe but understandable within the framework of capital punishment. It is the decision to include viewing booths, and especially to highlight them publicly as part of the political presentation of the facility, that gives the impression that something more than justice is being cultivated.
Supporting Israel Does Not Mean Worshipping The Israeli Government
Christians desperately need to understand that biblical support for Israel does not mean unquestioning support for every decision made by the modern Israeli government. At Now The End Begins, we are unapologetically pro-Israel because the King James Bible is unapologetically pro-Israel. God gave the land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Jewish people remain the earthly people God chose for His purposes. The Church has not replaced Israel, Jerusalem has not lost its prophetic significance, and the promises God made to the Jewish people have not somehow been transferred to Rome, London, Washington or the professing Christian Church.
But none of those biblical truths mean every Israeli politician is righteous, every Israeli policy is biblical, or every action of the Israeli government deserves Christian applause. Benjamin Netanyahu is not King David, Itamar Ben-Gvir is not Moses, and the modern Knesset is not governing the nation under the direct Old Testament theocracy of Jehovah God. Modern Israel is a secular Jewish state prophetically regathered in unbelief, standing precisely where Bible prophecy said the Jewish people would once again stand as we move deeper into the closing moments of the Church Age.
That means Bible believers should be capable of holding two truths at the same time. We can defend Israel against antisemitism, stand against the satanic hatred of the Jewish people, reject the lie of Replacement Theology, recognize Israel’s right to defend itself against Islamic terrorism and still condemn something done by the Israeli government when it crosses a moral line. In fact, genuine friendship sometimes requires precisely that kind of honesty. When Israel does right, we should support her. When Israel is falsely accused, we should defend her. When the world once again begins resurrecting its ancient hatred of the Jews, we should expose and oppose it. But when an Israeli politician proudly points to an execution complex containing gallows and talks about places where grieving people can watch their enemies hang, Bible believers should retain enough spiritual discernment to call that image what it is.
Terrorism Is Evil, But So Is Learning To Enjoy Death
This is one of the most dangerous ways evil spreads. Terrorists commit atrocities so horrifying that they provoke entirely understandable rage among their victims. That rage creates a demand for justice, but if the heart is not guarded, the desire for justice can slowly become the desire for vengeance, and the desire for vengeance can eventually become satisfaction in watching another person suffer. Hamas committed unspeakable atrocities against the Jewish people. Nothing said here diminishes that reality by even one degree. October 7 was evil, Hamas terrorism is evil, kidnapping civilians is evil, murdering children is evil, and intentionally slaughtering innocent people deserves severe punishment. Calling a viewing gallery at a gallows disturbing does not magically transform terrorists into victims or erase the crimes for which they have been convicted.
The question is not whether terrorists deserve punishment. The question is what happens to a society when punishment itself becomes something people are encouraged to watch as entertainment.
There is a deep moral difference between executing a murderer because justice demands it and designing the execution environment so those harmed by him can watch his body fall from a rope. One is an action undertaken by the state because law has pronounced judgment. The other risks turning vengeance into an experience. The Bible draws the distinction with remarkable clarity. Romans 12 commands the individual not to avenge himself, while Romans 13 immediately establishes the authority of government to punish wrongdoing. Those two chapters are not contradictory; together they establish the proper boundary between personal vengeance and civil justice.
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Romans 12:19 (KJB)
The individual is told to leave vengeance with God, while the government is authorized to punish the evildoer. Government administers justice; individuals surrender vengeance to God. When a government begins constructing special viewing areas so victims can personally watch the execution of their enemies, those two categories begin moving dangerously close together. Perhaps some families believe witnessing an execution will give them closure. Perhaps some genuinely feel that watching the murderer die will finally provide peace after years of grief. I would never minimize the horror endured by families whose loved ones were butchered by terrorists. But closure does not ultimately come from a rope, and peace does not ultimately come from watching another human being stop breathing.
Israel Needs Justice, Not A Gallows Spectacle
Israel lives in a brutal neighborhood and faces enemies who openly desire her destruction. Terrorist organizations surrounding the Jewish state have repeatedly demonstrated that they are willing to murder Jewish men, women and children without mercy, and Israel therefore possesses both the right and the responsibility to defend its citizens. If duly constituted courts determine that terrorists convicted of intentional murder deserve death, there is nothing in the King James Bible requiring Christians to pretend that capital punishment itself is some great moral outrage.
But death should never become entertainment, execution should never become political theater, and the final punishment of a criminal should never be packaged as a spectacle from which people are invited to derive emotional satisfaction. The moment government begins promoting the opportunity to watch an enemy die, something has changed in the moral atmosphere surrounding justice. The imagery itself ought to trouble anyone capable of stepping outside the passions of the moment: a gallows, a hanging rope, viewing booths, spectators and politicians celebrating the construction of the facility. Whatever legal arguments may be advanced for each individual component, when assembled together they create an unmistakably grim picture.
Israel deserves justice against those who murder her people. Israel deserves security from terrorists who dream of wiping the Jewish state from the map. Israel deserves Christian friends who will stand beside the Jewish people when this lost and increasingly antisemitic world turns against them. But Israel does not need Christians who confuse biblical Zionism with unconditional approval of every politician in Jerusalem. Sometimes friendship means saying that something has gone too far. That is the line Israel must be exceedingly careful not to cross, and those of us who love Israel enough to defend her when the world lies about her should also love Israel enough to tell the truth when something is wrong. This is wrong, and we are saying something about it.
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The post Israel Is Building A Gallows Execution Complex For Convicted Palestinian Terrorists, And Security Minister Ben-Gvir Wants To Add Viewing Booths For Spectators appeared first on Now The End Begins.
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