More than two years after the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history, the Knesset on Monday night approved legislation creating a special tribunal to prosecute those accused of participating in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
The measure passed overwhelmingly, with 93 lawmakers voting in favor and none opposed.
“This is one of the most important moments of the current Knesset,” Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin said after the vote. “Out of the terrible massacre, we rose up to fulfill our moral obligation to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
The legislation establishes a dedicated military judicial framework to handle prosecutions connected to the Oct. 7 assault, when thousands of terrorists crossed into Israel from Gaza, killing roughly 1,200 people and abducting 251 others, while committing widespread acts of murder, rape, torture and kidnapping. The tribunal will handle cases involving approximately 300 terrorists captured inside Israeli territory during the attack, along with suspects accused of involvement in kidnapping and related crimes.
Under the legislation, suspects could face charges including terrorism, wartime collaboration, genocide-related offenses and violations of Israeli sovereignty.
In the gravest cases, the tribunal would have the authority to impose the death penalty.
The bill was jointly introduced by coalition lawmaker Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionism Party and opposition MK Yulia Malinovsky of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party.
Rothman told TPS-IL that the legislation sends “a clear and unequivocal message” to Israel’s enemies.
“The State of Israel will not forget and will not forgive,” he said. “Those who slaughtered, murdered, raped and kidnapped Israeli citizens will stand trial and pay the heaviest price.”
“This law will regulate, streamline and shorten the process of bringing the terrorists responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre to justice,” Malinovsky told JNS.
“Given the number of terrorists, crime scenes and pieces of evidence involved, legislation was necessary. This law allows judges to impose the harshest penalties available under Israeli law, including the death penalty,” she continued.
“Without this legislation, those terrorists could have died of old age before ever standing trial,” she said, adding, “This law will bring justice to the victims, their families and all citizens of Israel.”
According to the legislation, hearings will be conducted publicly in Jerusalem and broadcast to viewers. Lawmakers said the proceedings are intended not only to prosecute suspects, but also to preserve evidence of the atrocities for the historical record.
A key provision bars anyone convicted under the framework from being released in future prisoner swaps or diplomatic agreements.
Supporters argued that Israel’s existing judicial system was not designed to manage crimes of such magnitude.
“The unique scope and severity of the atrocities pose an unprecedented challenge,” the bill’s explanatory notes states, citing the number of crime scenes, suspects and victims, along with the difficulties of collecting evidence during wartime.
The law allows judges, in certain circumstances, to depart from standard evidentiary procedures. It also mandates an automatic appeal process in any case involving a death sentence, even if the defendant declines to appeal.
Despite the broad support, the legislation drew criticism from some coalition figures during deliberations. Critics argued the process could become overly lengthy and bureaucratic, and warned that details surrounding implementation of the death penalty were left to future government regulations.
Some lawmakers also questioned the projected cost of the tribunal, estimated at between 2 billion shekel ($690 million) and 5 billion shekel ($1.7 billion).
In March, the Knesset approved separate legislation authorizing the death penalty for non-Israeli terrorists convicted of murdering Israelis. The Knesset stated in Hebrew that the Death Penalty for Terrorists Bill mandates that a “resident of the area, except for an Israeli citizen or Israel resident, who intentionally caused the death of a person in an act of terrorism, shall be imposed with the death penalty, unless the military court finds that special circumstances exist under which it is appropriate to impose a sentence of life imprisonment.”
However, because the law is not retroactive, it does not apply to suspects accused of participating in the October 2023 attacks.
If implemented, the death penalty provision would mark an extraordinarily rare step in Israeli legal history.
The only person ever executed by Israel was Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief architects of the Holocaust. He was hanged in 1962 after being convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. Israeli courts also sentenced John Demjanjuk to death in 1988 for crimes committed at Nazi concentration camps, but the Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1993. He was later convicted in Germany and died while appealing the verdict.
