Israel is considering the death penalty for some Oct 7 Hamas terrorists, UK tabloid reports

The last time the death penalty was used in Israel was following the trial and conviction in 1962 of Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi architect of the Holocaust.

Alan Baker, former legal advisor to Israel’s Foreign Ministry and a former military prosecutor, now believes it may be time for Israel to reinstate the death penalty for Hamas terrorists convicted of involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

According to UK tabloid The Sun, 22 Hamas terrorists are expected to be indicted for their involvement in the attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest hit communities during the Oct. 7 terror attack.

Some or all of the suspects could be eligible for the death penalty, according to Baker and other Israeli military prosecutors. 

In a recent interview with The Sun, Baker explained that Israel abolished the death penalty in part to avoid incentivizing terrorists to commit more brutal attacks if execution was inevitable, and also out of concern over potential international backlash.

“About 30 years ago, I was the prosecutor on the trial of a particularly nasty and cruel terrorist, and I managed to get him convicted with the death penalty,” Baker said. “It wasn’t carried out at the time, because of a theory that it could encourage terrorists to do more horrific acts, if they feel like they are going to die anyway.”

"There is, of course, also always the concern of what the international community thinks, too,” he continued. 

Baker said Israel shouldn’t be concerned about the global reaction.

"These considerations shouldn’t take into account what the world thinks,” he said. “The world will condemn Israel whatever it does – whether it imposes the death penalty or anything less. We’ve seen this for 80 years. Israel has tried to explain itself and to appear reasonable, and the world has consistently condemned it.

Baker, who now heads International Law at the Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Security Affairs, said he implored the prosecutors to fully consider "the seriousness of these criminals,” and to tell them not to pay attention to “any external consideration.” 

Maurice Hirsch, director of the Initiative for Palestinian Authority Accountability and Reform in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCFA), said the complexity of the Israeli justice system means the death penalty is not guaranteed, but is being considered because of the horrific nature of the attacks. 

He also said Israel has to deal with international pressure when weighing the death penalty. 

"They should be subject to the death penalty, but it will depend on whether Israel will be able to withstand international pressure,” Hirsch said. 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is perhaps the most prominent politician pushing for a return to the death penalty for terrorists.

In March 2023, shortly after the coalition government took office and months before the Hamas attacks, the Knesset approved a preliminary reading of a bill – drafted by Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power party – proposing the death penalty for terrorists.

During Memorial Day ceremonies last week, Ben Gvir attended a service for the 1,666 police officers who have fallen in the line of duty since the foundation of the State of Israel. 

“We will continue to build a strong and powerful police force that engages the enemy. We will continue to support the officers as we have been doing,” Ben Gvir told those gathered at the ceremony.

“We will continue to build a powerful, strong, determined, and aggressive Prison Service that exhibits governance, that changes the conditions of terrorists in the prisons. May we also merit to have the death penalty for terrorists.”