Retribution coming
The crimes may constitute genocide, as these were carried out with the ‘intent to destroy in whole or part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’.
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The crimes may constitute genocide, as these were carried out with the ‘intent to destroy in whole or part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’.
Confident of a swift resolution to the war with Hamas, Israel is now considering the process to hold the terrorists legally accountable for the crimes committed in the 7 October atrocities, including the creation of a special tribunal.
The legal adviser to the Israeli government, the attorney's office, the court administration, and the public defender's office have agreed that a regular court is not the right venue to try those who took part in the terror assault.
Rarely reported in the 7 October attack was that some 200 Hamas terrorists were captured by Israeli forces after 3,000 of the group's members stormed in from the Gaza Strip, killing 1,400 people and taking at least 240 hostages.
The majority of those massacred were civilians, including women, children, and the elderly. Entire families were butchered in their homes, and over 260 people were mowed down at a music festival.
A likely recourse is to pass special legislation to empower a tribunal to hear a historic judicial case against Hamas "to present to the world the goals, roots, funders, and activities of the murderous terror group."
Regarding its ongoing campaign in the war zone, the Israeli government stated in a paper its commitment to international law.
Despite Hamas' unimaginable brutality and its disdain for human life, whether Israeli or Palestinian, and for the law, Israel made clear its commitment to conduct its military operations by international law, as Israel's senior political and military leadership has repeatedly underlined.
The paper said Israel had incorporated the law of armed conflict, or LOAC, also referred to as the international humanitarian law, into all aspects of its military operations through legal training, operational procedures and plans, continuous operational legal advice, and robust and independent investigation mechanisms for addressing accusations of military abuse and misconduct.
The Office of Israel's Attorney General has been providing international law advice, and Israel's Supreme Court holds jurisdiction over judicial oversight, including in the hostilities.
The families of nine Israeli victims of the massacre have lodged a complaint before the International Criminal Court for war crimes charges.
Lawyer Francois Zimeray, who represents the families of the victims, said in a statement the families also want Hamas and its elements prosecuted for genocide, and for the ICC to issue an international arrest warrant for its leaders.
Zimeray said the complaint sent to the ICC concerned only civilians, several of whom were participants of the music festival near the Gaza border that the terrorists attacked.
Israel wants Hamas and its terror horde to account for the slaughter of over 1,400 Israelis and foreign citizens, the wounding of over 5,500, widespread acts of torture and maiming, burning alive, beheading, rape and sexual violence, mutilation of corpses, the abduction of at least 247 hostages (including infants, entire families, persons with disabilities, and Holocaust survivors), the indiscriminate firing of thousands of rockets, and the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields.
The crimes may constitute genocide, as these were carried out with the "intent to destroy in whole or part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group" based on Hamas' objective of eradicating Israel.
"Israel is both entitled and compelled to act to deny Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza the capacity to continue attacking its citizens and territory," according to the government paper.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that when the dust settles, there would be a lot of accounting that will take place, including for himself, as he is being widely criticized in Israel for his administration's failure to anticipate the attack.
A new order that guarantees peace without Hamas will require that the terror group be made to answer for every single atrocity inflicted on civilians in the 7 October barbarism.
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