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.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits remained relatively low in early August, offering another sign that widespread layoffs have yet to take hold even as hiring across the U.S. economy remains subdued.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a second preemptive airstrike in Gaza in two days Thursday, targeting a Hamas terror cell in Khan Yunis that Israeli military officials said was preparing an attack against Israeli forces.
The Trump administration has announced nearly $2 billion in health and humanitarian assistance for faith-based organizations, placing several major Christian ministries at the center of a reshaped U.S. foreign-aid strategy following sweeping cuts to USAID programs.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has cast doubt on a controversial Russian-led expansion of Hungary’s only nuclear power plant after record-low levels of the Danube River nearly forced its existing reactors into a complete shutdown.
The United States is preparing to send the USS George Washington aircraft carrier to the Middle East, replacing the USS Abraham Lincoln after an exceptionally long deployment supporting American military operations against Iran, according to an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are moving to deepen military cooperation under a new mutual-defense pact that Israeli analysts say could reshape the Middle East’s security architecture while reducing dependence on the United States and bypassing Israel.
Americans added another $21 billion in credit card debt during the second quarter of 2026, pushing outstanding balances to roughly $1.26 trillion and bringing consumer borrowing close to its record high.