Why Israel approved executions for 7 October attackers | Global News Podcast

Israel has approved a new law to impose the death penalty and public trials on people involved in the Hamas-led attacks of 7th October, 2023. It was passed unanimously in Israel’s parliament – the Knesset.

"May everyone see how the State of Israel is a sovereign state which knows how to hold those who harmed it to account," said Yulia Malinovsky, an opposition politician who co-sponsored the bill.

Israeli human rights groups have spoken out against the new law, opposing the principle of capital punishment but also warning against "show trials" based on confessions allegedly extracted under torture. The Israeli government denies accusations of widespread torture asserting that it complies with standards of international law.

This is the second time in a matter of weeks that Israel has approved a capital punishment bill. In April, the Knesset passed a law that would in effect make the death penalty the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks. It was championed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.

Israel had has not carried out an execution since 1962, when it hanged Adolf Eichmann – known as one of the architects of the Holocaust.

We speak to the BBC’s Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher.

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00:00 Introduction
00:21 Israel’s 7 October death penalty law
01:36 The last person executed by Israel
02:24 Human rights condemnation
04:01 Israel’s other death penalty law
06:48 What this tells us about Israeli society