Israel Approves Special Tribunal for Oct. 7 Terror Suspects

Key Facts

Published: May 12, 2026 Location: Jerusalem Source: Wire Services

• Knesset approved a special military tribunal to prosecute roughly 300 suspected Oct. 7 terrorists, with the bill passing 93-0.
• The tribunal may hear charges including terrorism, wartime collaboration, violations of Israeli sovereignty and genocide-related offenses.
• Convicted terrorists would be barred from future prisoner swaps, and the gravest cases could carry the death penalty.

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – More than two years after the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history, the Knesset has approved legislation establishing a special military tribunal to prosecute terrorists accused of participating in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

The bill passed Monday night with overwhelming support, 93-0, reflecting rare unity across Israel’s deeply divided political landscape.

“This is one of the most important moments of the current Knesset,” 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 new tribunal will operate within Israel’s military justice system and is designed to handle cases involving roughly 300 suspected terrorists captured inside Israeli territory during the Oct. 7 invasion. The suspects may face charges including terrorism, assisting an enemy during wartime, harming Israeli sovereignty, genocide-related offenses and crimes tied to kidnapping, murder, rape and torture.

The Oct. 7 assault saw thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invade Israel from Gaza, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting 251 hostages. Israeli officials have described the massacre as the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

The legislation was jointly sponsored by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, a coalition lawmaker, and Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yulia Malinovsky, an opposition lawmaker. Rothman said the law sends “a clear and unequivocal message” to Israel’s enemies: “The State of Israel will not forget and will not forgive.”

Malinovsky said the tribunal was necessary because Israel’s standard judicial system was not built to handle crimes of such scale, with hundreds of defendants, multiple crime scenes and enormous volumes of evidence gathered during wartime.

“This law will bring justice to the victims, their families and all citizens of Israel,” she said.

The tribunal’s hearings are expected to be held publicly in Jerusalem and broadcast, allowing the proceedings to serve not only as criminal trials but also as a formal historical record of the atrocities.

In the gravest cases, judges will be authorized to impose the death penalty, though any such sentence would trigger an automatic appeal. If carried out, it would be an extraordinarily rare step in Israeli legal history. Israel has executed only one person: Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was hanged in 1962 after being convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The law also bars anyone convicted under the new framework from being released in future prisoner exchanges or diplomatic agreements.

The legislation’s passage marks a major step in Israel’s effort to confront the legal, moral and historical aftermath of Oct. 7 — a day that left the nation wounded, grieving and determined that such evil must be answered in a court of law.

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