03/03/2023 (Agence Europe) – Reacting on Thursday 2 March to the Israeli Knesset’s preliminary approval of a bill that would allow the death penalty to be imposed on terrorists found guilty of killing Israeli citizens, Aleksandar Nikoloski (North Macedonian, EPP), rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the abolition of the death penalty, sees it as “a worrying development”. He recalled that the rejection of the death penalty is “a basic principle of the Council of Europe”, which applies “also in the context of the fight against terrorism”. With observer status at PACE, the Knesset should reconsider this decision, says Mr Nikoloski, who points out that in December 2020 Israel co-sponsored and voted for UN General Assembly Resolution 75/183 on the implementation of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. (VL)