(5 May 2026) In the summer legislative session that begins Sunday, the Israeli Knesset is expected to vote on a bill to establish a special court for prosecuting those suspected of participating in the October 7, 2023 attacks in southern Israel. The bill would allow designated judges — selected by the Israeli military — to deviate from rules of evidence and procedural protections designed to safeguard defendants’ rights. If passed and enacted into law, the bill would pave the way for the execution of dozens, and possibly hundreds, of people. Governmental coalition members have repeatedly stated that executions are precisely their intent and expectation from the court they’ll establish.
Those who took part in the October 7 massacre of civilians in southern Israel should stand trial and be held accountable for their actions. But there is no excuse for carrying out wholesale executions, while trampling on defendants’ right to due process, in service of public rage and a thirst for vengeance. The injustice is compounded by the fact that of the approximately 7,000 Palestinians from Gaza detained in Israel since October 2023, more than 5,000 were eventually released without ever being charged with a crime. These widespread wrongful detentions, made possible under emergency wartime legislation (also known as the Unlawful Combatants Imprisonment Law), have demonstrated Israeli authorities’ willingness to sanction any violation of human rights, supposedly in service of justice for Israeli victims. The hundreds of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who remain imprisoned continue to be held in inhumane and cruel conditions, including torture, starvation, denial of medical care, sexual abuse, and more. Torture and other forms of cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment pave the way for false confessions.
