Israel pushes ahead with Eichmann-style tribunal for October 7 attackers

Israeli lawmakers set up a special tribunal and allow for the death penalty for Hamas-led 2023 attackers

Israeli lawmakers approved a bill on Monday setting up a special tribunal that would try and have the authority to sentence to death Palestinians convicted of taking part in the 2023 Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza.

The measure passed 93-0 in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament, reflecting widespread support for punishing those found responsible for what was the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. The remaining 27 lawmakers were absent or abstained from voting.

Rights groups have criticised the measure, saying it makes the death penalty too easy to impose while also doing away with procedures safeguarding the right to a fair trial. Defendants can appeal their sentences but the appeals have to be heard by a separate, special appeals court rather than regular appeals courts.

Because the bill empowers a panel of judges to hand down the death penalty by a majority vote – and requires the trials to be conducted in a live-streamed Jerusalem courtroom – 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, though technically capital punishment remains on the books for acts of genocide, espionage during wartime and certain terror offences.

Opponents of the bill also say that live-streaming the proceedings before guilt was established risked turning the trials into a spectacle. They have raised questions about the reliability of the evidence that may be presented, saying it could have been extracted by harsh interrogation methods.