MK Rothman pushes to indict Oct. 7 perpetrators next year, but process faces delays

Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman said on Wednesday that he wanted the first indictments of Palestinians suspected of participating in the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacres to be handed down in the first half of 2027.

He added, however, that the pace of the preparatory process needed to be increased because “the Israeli public is waiting, demanding, and entitled” to see the trials begin.

Rothman, of the Religious Zionism party, made his comments at a committee oversight hearing on a law passed earlier this year to establish a military tribunal to try those suspected of involvement in the massacre of Israelis and foreign nationals on October 7.
A minute’s silence was held at the beginning of the hearing and a passage of Psalms (Tehillim) was recited to mark the anniversary of the atrocities.

The law to establish a special military tribunal was only passed in May this year, although prosecutors from the State Attorney’s Office began interrogating Palestinian detainees captured by the security services on October 7 and in its aftermath and gathering evidence against them soon after the terrorist assault.

There are thought to be some 300 Palestinians held in Israeli detention centers suspected of committing atrocities, although the precise number is classified.

During Wednesday’s hearing, officials from the Defense Ministry, the State Attorney’s Office, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and other agencies detailed their preparations, with some noting that various stumbling blocks have slowed down the prosecutorial process.

A dispute over general budget cuts has slowed down the funding of the necessary staff for the IPS, the committee heard, while there have also been delays in staffing positions in the military prosecution, and uncertainty as to whether the 15 prosecutors from the Southern District State Attorney’s Office who have carried out the investigations until now will transfer over to the military prosecution to continue their work.

The necessary approvals for the site where the trials will be held will only be obtained in January 2027, meaning it will likely not be ready until the end of that year.

It also emerged that some of the suspects have yet to be questioned by prosecutors.

A military prosecutor to oversee the indictment process will be chosen within two weeks, and Rothman said that the official “must set out a date for the first indictment” in his first week of work.

Four military prosecutors have been appointed so far, but another 55 positions will need to be filled this year and the next to work on the indictments and trials, the IDF’s chief military prosecutor Eli Levertov told the hearing.

Head of the Southern District State Attorney’s Office Erez Padan said that detailed legal opinions have been produced for “hundreds of suspects” in the October 7 massacres so far, with the large majority including recommendations for indictment.

“Every legal opinion is the product of assembling a very, very complex evidentiary puzzle, because the fact that someone being interrogated tells a story during questioning doesn’t mean it’s true,” said Padan.

“The information is cross-checked against crime-scene findings, cameras, other suspects, and more. It’s a matter of collecting evidence and cross-referencing it in order to arrive at the evidentiary findings for each individual,” he added.

Rothman insisted that the pace of the process needed to quicken, and noted that the military tribunal law requires a “different” evidentiary standard than normal criminal proceedings.

The law actually imports the evidentiary standards of Israel’s regular criminal prosecution process, but the military courts trying the October 7 suspects will be entitled to “deviate” from such standards in certain circumstances if deemed necessary and if doing so does not harm the fairness of the trial process.
“The very important mission, for the sake of the blood of our sisters and brothers who were murdered, is for the state to make sure it does not let such things pass,” Rothman said.

“The task that the people of Israel took upon themselves, by military or legal means, is important for the sake of justice, for the sake of future generations, and for the sake of the story [of October 7].”

MK Yulia Malinowski of the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, who cosponsored the legislation, said any problems needed to be resolved quickly.

“The people of Israel deserve answers. We did what we needed to do, we legislated the law, and now every official needs to put aside personal whims and disputes and rise to the occasion. Regardless of the election results and who sits in this chair, we will not let up. We owe this to the families.”