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MORDECHAI KREMNITZER — KHALID GHANAYIM The aggravated circumstances are 11: (1) Ihe act was committed after planning or after a real process of weighting and crystallization of a decision to kill;? (2) The act was committed with the purpose of enabling or assisting the perpetration of another offense, or with the purpose of hiding another offense or enabling the escape from justice after committing another offense. The other offense is an offense punished by 7 years of imprisonment or more;”° (3) The victim was a witness in a criminal trial or was expected to deliver a testimony in a criminal trial or a judge in a criminal trial and the act was done with the purpose to prevent or thwart an investigation or a judicial process; (4) The act was done out of a motive of racism or hostility of a group; (5) The homicide was committed as a punitive action intended to impose authority or instill fear and to impose ways of conduct on a group;* (6) The victim is his partner and the act was done after systematic or continuous abuse of the victim, physically or mentally; (7) The act was done with special cruelty or during a physical or mental abuse of the victim; (8) The victim is helpless, a minor under 14, or a minor under 18 that the perpetrator is under duty to protect ; (9) The act was done while creating a real danger to an additional person, other than the victim; (10) The homicide act is a terror act, as defined in the Law of Combat Against Terrorism;? (11) The act was committed in the framework of the activity of a criminal organization or a terroristic organization in order to pursue the objectives of this organization.*? 28 On Premeditation see also Mordechai Kremnitzer, On Premeditation, Buffalo Criminal Law Review 1 (1998), 627-660. 2° While according to the former law, killing during the perpetration of an offense or the preparation to commit it constitutes an aggravating, the new law rejecting this aggravating and requires a causal relation in the sense of purpose between the other offense and killing. One might reject the limitation of the severe offense; it can be argued that precisely when killing is associated with minor offense, such as misdemeanor, the contempt it displays for human life increases; see also Mordechai Kremnitzer — Khalid Ghanayim, The Elements of aggravated Murder according to sec. 301A(a)(2) Penal Code, Law & Government 2021, 311 (in Hebrew). 30 See Kremnitzer — Ghanayim, Honor Killing - An Aggravated Murder? 31 Due to the broad definition of terror acts — as an act of violence with a knife or a weapon, committed out of a religious, political or ideological motive (not accompanied with a purpose of instilling fear or influencing policy) becomes aggravated murder. This seems to be unjustified. The aggravating factor in terroristic activity is the special impact of fear caused by these acts. When this factor is missing, aggravation loses its ground. The mere fact that the killing is committed out of a non-egoistic motive does not make it more severe. 32 The proposal of the committee included additional circumstances, such as: the victim is a public employee in law enforcement bodies and the act was done in connection to his/ her role; the victim is an elected official where the act was done in connection with his role; and the act was done to satisfy a sexual instinct or a lust to kill. These circumstances were rejected by the Government and Parliament (with the exception of a judge acting in a criminal trial), because of the difficulty to find a valid principle for distinction between ¢ 152 +
