By Blessing Nweke
Israeli lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bill establishing a special tribunal empowered to try Palestinians accused of participating in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack and to impose the death penalty on those convicted.
The legislation passed 93-0 in the 120-member Knesset, with the remaining lawmakers absent or abstaining, underscoring broad political backing for tougher punishment against suspects linked to the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.
Under the measure, special judicial panels would be allowed to sentence defendants to death by majority vote. Trials would also be livestreamed from a courtroom in Jerusalem, drawing comparisons from critics to the 1962 trial of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann, which was televised globally. Eichmann remains the only person executed by the Israeli state.
Israeli law technically permits capital punishment in limited cases, including genocide, wartime espionage and some terrorism-related offenses, though it has rarely been used.
Human rights organizations strongly condemned the bill, warning it weakens safeguards for fair trials and risks politicizing judicial proceedings. Groups including Adalah, Hamoked and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel said accountability for the Oct. 7 attacks should not come at the expense of justice principles.
Critics also raised concerns that live streaming trials before verdicts are reached could turn proceedings into public spectacles and questioned whether evidence may have been obtained through coercive interrogations.
The war began when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel and abducted 251 hostages. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has since killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
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