Is Israel’s legal system prepared to deliver justice after the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, or is it paralyzed by outdated frameworks and political hesitation?
On this episode of “Basic Law,” Aylana Meisel, executive director of the Israel Law & Liberty Forum, sits down with Col. (Res.) Adv. Maurice Hirsch, a former senior prosecutor for the Israel Defense Forces and director of legal strategies at the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs, to unpack the urgent need for a new legal response to the massacre that Black Shabbat.
In this episode:
- Why existing Israeli law is insufficient to address the scale of Hamas’s crimes
- How Israel traditionally prosecuted terrorism—and why that’s no longer enough
- The case for a national or international tribunal modeled on Nuremberg
- What justice looks like for the victims—and how to enshrine it in law
- How trials can fight denial, preserve memory, and secure national resilience
They further explore how Israel can transform this legal challenge into a historic opportunity: to define moral clarity in an age of moral confusion and to turn catastrophe into a foundation for future justice.
The Israel Law & Liberty Forum is proud to partner with JNS to offer a platform for conservative and classical liberal legal thought from within Israel. Any opinions stated are those of the speaker and not meant to represent the positions of the forum or JNS. The forum is an organization that fosters thoughtful conversation and debate on key issues in Israeli law and democracy. The forum takes no official position regarding any specific policy issue, nor does it advance specific policies.