From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Knesset panel advances bill establishing special military tribunal to try October 7 perpetrators
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
The Knesset Constitution Law and Justice Committee votes to advance a bill to establish a special military tribunal to try perpetrators of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre to the Knesset plenum for its second and third readings.
The bill would create a special court within the military justice system to prosecute those who took part in the attack.
Submitted jointly by committee chair Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman of the coalition and Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky of the opposition, the bill has drawn rare bipartisan backing.
“Today is a celebration for Israeli democracy, because when the Knesset joins forces it has the ability to fulfill its responsibility,” says Rothman in a statement.
“On issues like this, there is no coalition and opposition,” says Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar.
Rothman, Malinovsky, Elharrar, Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovich and Democrats MK Gilad Kariv supported the motion, while MK Ofer Cassif of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party abstained.
The bill passed its first reading in the parliament in January and has been under committee deliberation since. Rothman says he intends to bring it to a final vote in the plenum “no later than the first week of [Knesset] summer session,” which is set to begin on May 10.
The committee says in a statement that the Finance Ministry must still complete a budgetary assessment of the bill, and that military officials estimate that full implementation could take close to a year.
The Times of Israel Community.