Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prohibited public hearings on a proposed law to execute October 7th Nukhba terrorists, fearing it could endanger the lives of hostages still held by Hamas, according to Maariv.
The legislation, referred to as the “Genocide Prevention Law,” which was introduced by Knesset members Simcha Rotman (Religious Zionism) and Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beiteinu), aims to apply the death penalty to individuals found guilty of promoting genocide. Currently, Nukhba terrorists are prosecuted under standard criminal charges in the Israeli Penal Code.
The proposed law would authorize capital punishment for any individual proven to have participated in the October 7th massacre, without requiring evidence of specific crimes committed, signifying Israel’s official position that the attacks were carried out with genocidal intent.
A special judicial body would be established to oversee such cases, and would be permitted to deviate from typical legal procedures, “in consideration of, among other things, the need to protect victims of crimes and their families, to facilitate the hearing of evidence in multi-defendant proceedings, to reduce interim and preliminary proceedings, to make the hearing public and accessible to various target audiences in Israel and around the world, and to take the proceedings efficiently with the aim of doing justice.”
Netanyahu’s opposition
Although the PMO chose not to issue a public comment on the matter, Netanyahu’s opposition reportedly stems from fear of Hamas retaliating against the hostages still held in Gaza. Southern District Attorney Erez Padan, who is in charge of prosecuting Nukhba terrorists, is also reportedly opposed to pursuing convictions for crimes that can be proven in court.
According to the report, the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee is establishing basic guidelines to advance the legislation as soon as it is politically viable. The law was discussed on Monday in the committee, with the next confidential hearing expected to take place on Tuesday.
Senior officials in the Knesset and the Justice Ministry confirmed details of this report to Maariv.
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