The government approved a budget of over one billion new shekels on Tuesday to carry out military tribunals for terrorists who participated in the October 7 Hamas massacre in 2023.
The legislation to prosecute terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre was passed in May, granting authority to impose the death penalty and conduct public trials for the perpetrators of the attacks at a Jerusalem military court. The law’s proposal consists of a broad framework for implementing the trials.
The Defense Ministry and the Finance Ministry stated that the framework of over a billion shekels was approved for the years 2026-2029, and that the funds will be allocated to the Defense Ministry and the IDF.
The approved budget is intended for establishing numerous buildings to implement the law, the Defense and Finance Ministries stated.
The infrastructure to be built for the trials includes a court complex, prosecution offices, and an IDF headquarters facility.
The allocated budget is also said to be used to cover the necessary manpower recruitment, salary costs, and the maintenance and upkeep of buildings.
The funds would further go toward computer and communications systems, broadcasting, catering, medical services, transportation, and other services, the ministries added.
Possible to advance preparations
The ministers stated that it was now possible to advance all necessary preparations to carry out the judicial proceedings, with government approval and budget allocation in place.
Though the legislation was already approved in the Knesset, the large sum of over a billion shekels to be directed to the initiative had reportedly been disputed by government ministries.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said after the approval that Israel will “ensure justice is served against the perpetrators of the most brutal massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and will send a clear and unequivocal message to all our enemies: whoever massacres, murders, rapes, and kidnaps Israeli civilians will pay the full price.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich added that the budget was being allocated “to advance this moral obligation and to ensure that all those who wish us harm know their fate and what awaits them.”
The legislation to prosecute the terrorists includes ensuring that key moments of the trial for the military courts would be filmed and broadcast on a dedicated website.
It establishes provisions concerning judicial panels, public access to proceedings, audiovisual documentation of hearings, and the broadcasting of parts of the proceedings to the public.
The law further proposes establishing specific arrangements for appointing judges to the court, including sitting and retired judges.
It calls for establishing special arrangements regarding victims’ rights, legal representation for defendants, and the conduct of hearings via video conference.
The legislation also proposes to create a special guard unit to secure the military court in Jerusalem.
It mandates administrative preparations for conducting the proceedings, periodic reporting to the Knesset, and the promulgation of regulations concerning the implementation of death sentences.
Trail video, audio to be preserved in State Archives
Additionally, the bill includes provisions to preserve video and audio documentation of the trials in the State Archives.
While a bill was passed in March to legislate the death penalty for terrorists in Israel, it could not be implemented retroactively, causing the military tribunals bill to be required to issue the death penalty to terrorists involved in the October 7 attacks.
Capital punishment has only been carried out twice in Israel’s history.
The last person to be executed by Israel was Nazi Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann, who was hanged in 1962.
The legislation had been sponsored by both coalition and opposition MKs, and passed its final readings by a unanimous vote of 93 to 0.
Lawmakers who sponsored the bill likened it to the Eichmann trials in 1961, which broadcast live and recorded testimonies of Holocaust survivors throughout Israel and numerous other countries before Eichmann’s hanging took place.
During the October 7 massacre, Hamas terrorists brutally murdered over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 hostages. The attacks also included sexual violence and rape.