\n Ben-Gvir\u2019s death penalty legislation has been overshadowed by a new Israeli law allowing special trials and possible executions for Palestinians detainees accused over the 7 October attack. [Getty]<\/p>\n
Israel’s parliament on Monday approved<\/a> a new law paving the way for the prosecution and possible execution of alleged Hamas elite force members and other Palestinian detainees<\/a> accused of taking part in the 7 October 2023 attack.<\/p>\n The legislation passed its second and third readings in the Knesset by a vote of 93 to 0 and lays the legal foundation for what Israeli media say is the most significant trials in Israel<\/a> since the prosecution of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann in 1961.<\/p>\n So what does the law actually say, who could be prosecuted under it, and how does it differ from the death penalty legislation promoted by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir?<\/a><\/p>\n What does the new law classify as “crimes”?<\/p>\n The legislation defines acts committed between 7 and 10 October 2023 as “crimes against the Jewish people”, crimes against humanity and war crimes.<\/p>\n The accusations include alleged killings, rape, kidnapping and looting.<\/p>\n The law also applies to alleged crimes committed against Israeli captives held in Gaza <\/a>after those dates, including captives who died while in detention.<\/p>\n What are the punishments?<\/p>\n One of the law’s central provisions allows Israeli courts to impose the death penalty not only for killings committed during the attack, but also for other offences such as rape.<\/p>\n The provision relies on existing legislation, including Israel’s <\/a>genocide prevention and counterterrorism laws.<\/p>\n The law further states that any detainee sentenced to death, or charged with offences carrying the death penalty, would be barred from release in future prisoner exchange deals.<\/p>\n How many people could face trial?<\/p>\n According to Israeli reports, more than 400 detainees could eventually face indictment depending on the outcome of investigations carried out by the Shin Bet and the Israeli military in Gaza.<\/p>\n A special military court will be established in occupied Jerusalem to oversee the trials.<\/p>\n Cases are expected to be divided geographically, with separate proceedings linked to areas such as Be’eri, Nir Oz and the Nova music festival.<\/p>\n How will the trials operate?<\/p>\n Each judicial panel will include three judges, at least one of whom is a senior military or district court judge recalled from reserve service.<\/p>\n Defendants convicted under the law will automatically receive the right to appeal, with retired Supreme Court judges expected to preside over appeal hearings.<\/p>\n Israeli prosecutors are expected to begin filing indictments based on what officials described as a vast body of evidence gathered over more than two years.<\/p>\n According to Israeli reports, the evidence includes forensic findings from attack sites, interrogation records and hundreds of videos documenting alleged atrocities.<\/p>\n Most defendants are not expected to attend hearings in person; instead, they follow the proceedings remotely from detention facilities via technological systems.<\/p>\n The legislation also permits mass trials that deviate from standard evidentiary rules, according to rights groups.<\/p>\n Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, warned in previous comments to The New Arab<\/a> that the law grants broad judicial discretion to admit evidence obtained under coercive conditions that could amount to torture or ill-treatment.<\/p>\n Unlike standard Israeli judicial practice, which generally prohibits courtroom cameras, the law also mandates the filming and public broadcasting of key hearings, verdicts and sentencing sessions on a dedicated website.<\/p>\n Why is the law considered significant and controversial?<\/p>\n Israeli media described the legislation as laying the groundwork for unprecedented trials in Israel.<\/p>\n The law was initiated by Constitution Committee chairman Simcha Rothman and Knesset member Yulia Malinovsky, while Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara were involved in drafting it.<\/p>\n Former military prosecutor Sharon Afek, now deputy attorney general for administrative affairs and special roles, helped shape the legal framework behind the legislation.<\/p>\n Israeli and Palestinian <\/a>rights groups have warned that the legislation lowers legal safeguards while making the death penalty easier to impose.<\/p>\n Under the law, only a simple majority of judges would reportedly be needed to impose a death sentence, compared with the unanimity currently required under Israeli law. Death penalty panels could also consist of three judges instead of five.<\/p>\n Human rights groups have warned that the proceedings risk becoming “show trials” at the expense of defendants’ rights.<\/p>\n Adalah said the legislation “subordinates every principle of fair criminal justice to a punitive and retributive spectacle”<\/p>\n “It is engineered to replace a genuine judicial inquiry with a retributive framework of state-sanctioned ‘show trials’ that explicitly strip Palestinians of the most fundamental fair trial guarantees,” Adalah lawyer Muna Haddad told The New Arab.<\/p>\n Haddad said the public broadcast provisions undermine the presumption of innocence and effectively treat an indictment as proof of guilt before any judicial examination has begun.<\/p>\n “The framework effectively treats indictment as a finding of guilt, before any judicial examination has begun,” she said.<\/p>\n She also argued that the law violates international legal standards protecting the rights to life and a fair trial.<\/p>\n Several Israeli rights groups, including Hamoked, Adalah and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel<\/a>, said accountability for the 7 October attack “must be pursued through a process which includes rather than abandons the principles of justice”.<\/p>\n Amnesty International also criticised the legislation, warning it risks “normalising an irreversible punishment that violates international human rights standards”.<\/p>\n How does it differ from Ben-Gvir’s death penalty legislation?<\/p>\n Israeli legal commentators say there is a major difference between the newly approved law and the death penalty legislation promoted by Ben-Gvir<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unlike the new law, which was specifically designed to prosecute those accused of participating in the events of 7 October, Ben-Gvir’s legislation focuses on future attacks. It would not apply retroactively to Palestinians already detained by Israel before its approval.<\/p>\n