The Israeli parliament – the Knesset – on Tuesday approved the bill prohibiting the denial of the massacre of October 7, 2023, in its third, final reading. TASR informs about this according to a report by The Times of Israel (TOI).
Based on the adopted law it will be possible to criminalize denying, belittling or glorifying the attack carried out by Palestinian militants, mainly from the Hamas movement, on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel.
The author and submitter of the bill is MP Oded Forer for the party Israel, our home (Yisrael beytenu). The 1986 law prohibiting Holocaust denial served as a model. The new law mandates sentences of up to five years in prison for statements denying the massacre “with the intention of advocating for, sympathizing with, or identifying with the terrorist organization Hamas and its partners”.
Statements made “in good faith or for a legitimate purpose” – e.g. during research or to provide information as part of court proceedings – are not considered a criminal activity according to the law.
The State of Israel has made it clear today that the denial of the atrocities of October 7 “will not be silenced either in the Knesset, or on the street, or in the world,” said MP Forer after the adoption of the bill. He added that anyone who “attempts to deny the heinous crimes of Hamas is an active partner in spreading lies and incitement that undermines the foundations of our society”.
He recalled that “at a time when lies spread on social networks and on the international stage at the speed of light, this law is a protective wall. Not only for the sake of the memory of the murdered and the honor of the survivors, but also for the sake of future generations who will remember the truth, and not the lies that try to obscure it.”
On October 7, 2023, thousands of gunmen invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, terrorizing the local population and army patrols, killing at least 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostages to the Gaza Strip. Terrorist commandos committed many brutal acts and sexual assaults, he reminded TOI. Israel responded to this cross-border incursion first with aerial and later ground attacks in the Gaza Strip, which claimed thousands of lives. Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire last week after 15 months of fighting.
