Israel's public defense refuses to represent the October 7 terrorists who were captured and await trial, they announced on Thursday.
"Thus far, no lawyer from the public defense has been appointed to a single case of Hamas terrorists or any other terrorist-related to October 7," said the Public Defenders' Office. "In our opinion, the procedure against these terrorists is not suited to the judicial procedure available today to deal with terrorists and terrorism."
The office added that in the current situation, a solution was needed for a judicial system that suited the extreme circumstances.
The Public Defenders' Office's announcement was praised by Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
"I support the public defense's refusal to represent the Hamas murderers who carried out the war crimes of the October 7 massacre," he said. "The Justice Ministry in my leadership will continue to work to bring the captured terrorists to justice."
No one should have to represent a terrorist
Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman also said the public defense shouldn't have to represent the terrorists.
"From the beginning of the Swords of Iron war, in numerous Law Committee meetings and outside them, I repeated my principle opinion that criminal law isn't the correct tool to deal with terrorism in general and Hamas's atrocities specifically," he said. "We need a new infrastructure that's suited to dealing with lowly murderers who committed crimes against humanity such as barbaric rape and massacre that criminal law cannot possibly understand."
Public defense generally acts as legal representation for people facing charges who cannot afford lawyers as every person on trial has the right to legal representation.
Another case in which Israel's public defense refused to represent someone on trial was in the case of Adolf Eichmann's trial in 1961. Due to their refusal, a lawyer was brought in from Germany to represent him.