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Oct. 7 attackers could face death penalty after Israel approves war ...
Hundreds of Hamas militants accused of committing war crimes during their October 2023 attack could face the death penalty after Israel late Monday approved the creation of a special military tribunal to prosecute their cases. The legislation received broad backing from both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition and much of the opposition, passing with 93 votes in favor and zero against. The Israeli parliament on Monday approved in its second and third readings a bill titled the “Prosecution law for the October 7 Massacre.” The legislation creates a dedicated tribunal, operating as a military court, to handle the prosecution of roughly 400 Hamas operatives from the elite Nukhba Force who have been held in Israel since the attack, an Israeli official told CNN. In the October 7 assault led by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controlled the Gaza Strip, attackers killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostage. The law includes a legal framework that will allow the death penalty for those convicted of genocide. The official said it could take several months until the tribunal is established and proceedings begin. Yulia Malinovsky, one of the bill’s sponsors and a lawmaker from the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, compared the tribunal to a “modern Eichmann trial,” referring to the 1961 trial of top Nazi official Adolf Eichmann. A key architect of the Holocaust, Eichmann was convicted in a landmark trial in Israel and was executed in 1962, one of only two people to have been executed in Israel’s history. The special tribunal will be based in Jerusalem. Its proceedings will be public and recorded via audio and video, and key hearings will be broadcast on a dedicated website. Judicial panels will be headed by sitting or retired district court judges. The bill also stipulates that funding for the defendants’ legal representation will be deducted from funds transferred to the Palestinian Authority, even though the West Bank-based authority was not involved in the October 7 attack. Adalah, an Israeli human rights organization, decried the tribunal as “fundamentally incompatible with the right to life, the presumption of innocence, judicial independence and the rule of law.” “The legislation renders any death sentence imposed an arbitrary deprivation of life, absolutely prohibited under international law and potentially a war crime,” Adalah said in a statement before the bill’s final passage. Justice Minister Yariv Le...
Israel's Knesset approves 'show trial' bill to try 7 Oct defendants
Rights monitors have warned that public trials and possible death sentences could violate international law and turn court proceedings into 'show trials'. 3 min read 11 May, 2026 Last Update11 May, 2026 23:44 PM The bipartisan legislation was passed in a unanimous vote in the Knesset on Monday evening. [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images] Israeli lawmakers on Monday approved a controversial bill that will establish a military tribunal for Palestinians accused of participating in the 7 October attack. Human rights groups have warned that public trials and possible death sentences could violate international law and turn court proceedings into "show trials". The bipartisan legislation passed in a unanimous vote on Monday evening, with all 93 lawmakers present in the Knesset voting in favour. It will see the establishment of a special court to hold public trials for the roughly 300 people accused of taking part in the Hamas-led attack. Those found guilty could be put to death. The bill was sponsored by MK Simcha Rothman of the far-right Religious Zionist Party and opposition lawmaker Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beytenu, with backing from Justice Minister Yariv Levin. Rights groups say the bill strips defendants of basic legal protections and undermines the principles of fair trial and judicial independence. Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said the legislation "subordinates every principle of fair criminal justice to a punitive and retributive spectacle". The group identified several provisions it said violated due process, including the creation of special civil-military tribunals exempt from standard judicial safeguards and evidentiary rules. The bill will also allow mass trials, reduce requirements for defendants to be physically present in court, and permit hearings to proceed largely through video participation. Under the proposal, only a simple majority of judges will be needed to impose the death penalty, compared to the unanimity currently required under Israeli law. Panels issuing death sentences could also consist of three judges instead of five, while the military would retain discretion over judicial appointments. The proceedings would be broadcast live, which Adalah warned would effectively transform the courts into "show trials". Adalah attorney Muna Haddad, who submitted a formal objection to the bill, told The New Arab the proposal represented "a total collapse of the rule of law". "It is engineere...
Israel Creates Special Court for Oct 7 Trials - JFeed
The legislation would create a special military tribunal to try roughly 300 terrorists captured inside Israel after the October 7, 2023 invasion. Israeli law enforcement and prosecution officials have spent more than two years weighing how to try the detainees, given the scale of the crimes, the number of defendants and the need to preserve ...
Israel approves law on public trials, death penalty for October 7 ...
Israel approves law on public trials, death penalty for October 7 detainees Rights groups warn that the bill makes the death penalty easier to impose and strips fair trial protections.
