Israeli parliament backs death penalty trial for Palestinians accused of Oct 7 attacks
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Israeli lawmakers approved a bill on Monday to establish a special court with the authority to try and sentence to death Palestinians convicted of taking part in the 2023 Hamas-led offensive that sparked the war in Gaza.
The measure passed 93-0 in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament, showing widespread support for punishing those found guilty of the deadliest attack in Israel's history. The remaining 27 lawmakers were absent or abstained from voting.
Rights groups have criticized the move, saying it makes it too easy to carry out the death penalty while scrapping procedures that protect the right to a fair trial. Defendants can appeal their convictions, but appeals must be heard by a separate, special appeals court from the regular appeals courts.
Because the bill gives juries the power to hand down the death penalty by majority vote — and requires trials to be heard in a live courtroom in Jerusalem — it has drawn comparisons to the 1962 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, which was broadcast live on television.
Eichmann was executed by hanging, the last time the death penalty was carried out in Israel, although the death penalty remains on the books for acts of genocide, wartime espionage and some terrorism offences.
CBC News visits Kibbutz Be'eri where a former hostage and survivor of the October 7 attack remembers the day two years ago when more than 100 people were killed in the community and 32 were taken hostage by Hamas and discussed possible peace.
The trials will turn into mirrors, say the opponents
Opponents of this bill also say that live broadcasting the trial before a case has been established risks turning the trial into a spectacle. They raised questions about the reliability of the evidence that might be presented, saying it might have been extracted through difficult investigative methods.
The war began when Hamas-led militants invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 72,628 Palestinians, including at least 846 since the offensive was halted last October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters but says that almost half of the dead are women and children. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, is seen as credible by UN agencies and independent experts.
Israeli forces have also killed hundreds of hostages in coastal fighting and taken an unknown number of suspects into Israeli custody, where they now await trial.
More than 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israel since the start of the offensive in the region, according to the local Ministry of Health. The death toll includes more than 350 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire began on October 10.
Simcha Rothman, one of the bill's sponsors and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition, said the overwhelming consensus on the bill in the Knesset shows that Israeli lawmakers can come together “with a common goal.”
Several Israeli rights groups — including Hamoked, Adalah and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel — said Monday that while “justice for the victims of October 7 is a legitimate and urgent matter,” any accountability “must be pursued through a process that is inclusive rather than dismissive of the principles of justice.”
The bill is separate from a law passed in March that authorized the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis, a move condemned by the international community and rights groups as racist and cruel.
That law applies to future cases and is not retroactive, so it could not apply to the October 2023 suspects.
According to the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, the country is still holding approximately 1,300 Palestinians from Gaza without charge in its detention centers. At least 7,000 Palestinians from Gaza have been held in Israeli detention centers since October 2023, and 5,000 of them have since been released.
The 1,300 number does not include those accused of attacking Israel on Oct. 7 or involvement in the capture of hostages.
