What about a tribunal?Kaplinsky presented a plan to an Israeli parliamentary committee that suggests creating a tribunal that takes the events of Oct. 7 as established fact. The tribunal would not call witnesses but would be based on documents from Israel’s security forces as well as the suspects’ interrogations. Suspects would fund their own defense.It was not clear if his plan was being considered.Dahlia Scheindlin, a political analyst who wrote a book about Israel’s democracy, said any tribunal created under Israel’s current far-right government would be politically tainted.“It will look like the laws are tailored according to the political whim of the current government,” she said.Medina, the law professor, said it appeared the state was holding off on making any decisions on how to try the suspects because it was expecting them to be released as part of a deal to free hostages.The Israeli Justice Ministry declined to comment.What is happening to suspects now? For now, many of the suspects are said to be considered “unlawful combatants,” meaning Israel can extend their detention indefinitely, delay their access to a lawyer and keep legal proceedings classified. Rights groups say that lack of transparency can enable abuse.Israel’s predicament is similar to the one the U.S. faced after the 9/11 attacks as it sought to capture al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The U.S. sent hundreds of suspects to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The detention center became the focus of international outrage because of the torture of prisoners and the U.S. insistence that it could hold men indefinitely without charge.Avi Kalo, who heads the international law program at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Israel’s Reichman University and is a former legal advisor to the Israeli military’s intelligence corps, said this situation is different because the Oct. 7 detainees are being held in Israeli territory and are subject to Israeli law. That includes judicial oversight on their cases, though rights groups say that oversight is flawed.Tal Steiner, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said that accounts from freed prisoners indicate detainees are receiving little food and experiencing inhumane treatment that could amount to torture.The Israel Prison Service, which holds some of the suspects, said prisoners are granted their basic rights.Steiner said the committee hasn’t taken a position on the best way to bring the attackers to justice.”It’s a complicated legal question,” she said. “But the alternative of holding them in lengthy detention, incommunicado, in such harsh conditions is also not a normal legal option.”
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