Israel pushes for hangings and ‘show trials’ for ‘October 7 detainees’

A new legal framework would allow special tribunals to admit evidence obtained through torture and broadcast proceedings, raising alarms among rights groups.Israeli lawmakers could approve a bill that would see Palestinian detainees face the death penalty [FILE: Amir Cohen/Reuters]Published On 11 May 2026Legal experts have warned that legislation being pushed through the Israeli parliament could result in Palestinians detained around the time of the October 7, 2023, attacks face publicly broadcast “show trials” and the death penalty.The proposed bill, which has gained rare bipartisan support from both the governing coalition and the opposition, recently entered the parliament, known as the Knesset, for its final readings and would create a special military tribunal to try Palestinians accused of playing a role in the 7 October attacks, when Hamas-led fighters stormed communities along southern Israel’s fence with Gaza.Co-sponsored by Simcha Rothman of the far-right Religious Zionism Party and Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beytenu, and strongly backed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the legislation proposes a dedicated military headquarters and court in Jerusalem to handle the mass prosecution of Palestinians seized by Israeli forces on or around October 7.At least 1,139 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attacks, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli statistics. About 240 others were seized as captives. Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza killed at least 72,500 Palestinians and destroyed the territory.Crucially, the bill authorises the court to deviate from standard rules around evidence, legal procedures and detention, as well as granting judges the full authority to issue the death penalty against Palestinians implicated by prosecutors in the attacks.While some members of the Knesset have championed the bill, the international community and rights groups argue the law could become a political weapon designed to strip detainees of fundamental legal protections.It follows the Knesset’s approval of a one-sided bill that will instruct military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in acts of “terror”, but will not impose the same penalty on Jewish Israelis convicted of killing Palestinians.Torture-tainted evidence and ‘show trials’To handle the scale of the mass arrests following October 7, the legislation permits sweeping exemptions in standard legal procedures during the trials of Palestinian suspects.Muna Haddad, an attorney with Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, has submitted a formal objection to the bill. She told Al Jazeera it intentionally lowers legal protections to guarantee fair trials in order to secure the mass conviction of Palestinians.“The bill explicitly permits mass trials that deviate from standard rules of evidence, including broad judicial discretion to admit evidence obtained under coercive conditions that may amount to torture or ill-treatment,” Haddad said. “This constitutes a severe violation of fair trial guarantees that falls well short of international law requirements.”In a departure from standard Israeli judicial practice, which typically prohibits courtroom cameras, the bill mandates the filming and public broadcasting of key moments in the trials on a dedicated website, including opening hearings, verdicts and sentencing.Malinovsky, one of the bill’s sponsors, said that “the entire world will witness” the proceedings.Haddad warned that this provision effectively “transforms proceedings into show trials at the expense of the accused’s rights.”“The provisions governing public hearings… violate the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair trial, and the right to dignity,” Haddad explained. “The framework effectively treats indictment as a finding of guilt, before any judicial examination has begun.”A session of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem, July 14, 2025 [Ohad Zwigenberg/AP Photo]Weaponising the Genocide LawBecause newly passed capital punishment laws cannot be applied retroactively, the new framework seeks to transplant existing Israeli criminal codes – such as treason, assisting an enemy in wartime and the 1950 Law for Preventing and Punishing the Crime of Genocide – into an entirely new legal construct with substantially lower standards of due process.Israeli legislators have repeatedly compared the upcoming proceedings to the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, a chief architect of the Nazi Holocaust, however, Haddad pointed out glaring historical and legal discrepancies in drawing parallels.“Adolf Eichmann was not, in fact, tried under the Genocide Law but the Nazi and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law,” she clarified.Haddad warned that the bill seeks to apply the crime of genocide in an “expansive and exceptional manner, despite it being one of the most serious, complex and narrowly defined offences in international law, one whose adjudication demands particularly rigorous evidentiary and legal scrutiny”.An ‘arbitrary deprivation of life’Israel strictly limits the death penalty under civil law and has only carried out executions twice in its history. However, the domestic political climate has shifted drastically in recent years. The internal security agency, the Shin Bet, has publicly supported the potential use of the death penalty for October 7 attackers in what it describes as an act of deterrence.When asked if the push for executions was merely domestic political theatre, Haddad was unequivocal.“This is not political theatre,” she told Al Jazeera. “Lawmakers have clearly and explicitly stated their expectation that the death penalty will be applied. Taken together with the recent passage of the March 2026 death penalty law, we are witnessing a deliberate move toward ending Israel’s long-standing moratorium on the death penalty and operationalising it in practice.”Under international law, imposing the death penalty through a compromised judicial process is illegal. “Any death sentence imposed in the absence of strict fair trial guarantees constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life and is absolutely prohibited under international law,” Haddad said, citing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).The risk of unchecked judicial authority is compounded by the fact that the minister of defence – a political actor – would be granted overarching authority over the law’s implementation, requiring only periodic written reports to a Knesset committee rather than independent civilian or judicial oversight.Historically, Israel has operated two parallel legal systems in the occupied territories: civil law for Israeli settlers and military law for Palestinians.According to data cited by Israeli rights groups, Palestinians tried in Israeli military courts face a conviction rate of 99.74 percent. In contrast, the conviction rate for Israelis tried in civilian courts for crimes committed against Palestinians is just around three percent.Prominent international rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW), have previously described Israel’s legislative manoeuvres regarding the death penalty for Palestinians as a “discriminatory tool” that entrenches a “system of apartheid“.