Israel to jail anyone who denies 7 October 'Hamas massacre' narrative

Israel may jail anyone who denies the 7 October "massacre" narrative and deport the families of "terrorists", amid a raft of controversial bills that are currently being debated in the Knesset.

Right-wing Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer proposed a law which would see people jailed for five years for denying or downplaying the 7 October killings and/or expressing sympathy with Hamas's actions on the day.

"The denial of the massacre constitutes an attempt to rewrite history already at this stage, in an attempt to hide, minimize, and facilitate the crimes committed against the Jewish people and the State of Israel," the bill proposes.

Hamas and other Palestinian fighters broke out of the besieged Gaza on 7 October, attacking the border areas, resulting in the death of around 1,160 people in southern Israel, according to an AFP tally, and taking around 250 people captive.

There have been questions over the number of people killed that day, how many of the victims were serving soldiers, and whether Israeli forces accidentally killed civilians.

Israel and the US initially alleged 40 babies were beheaded by Hamas fighters at Kfar Aza, but later walked back on the claims when journalists asked for evidence.

Other government narratives about events that day have been questioned along with the role of Zaka in retrieving bodies, a Heredi volunteer rescue service that has been mired in controversy.

Haaretz recently published an investigation that highlighted the amateur work and negligence of Zaka volunteers during the process, including little or no documentation of what was essentially a crime scene and insufficient information written on body bags.

Israelis have questioned why professional criminal forensic teams were not deployed to handle the bodies at kibbutzim and other sites and Zaka's "monopoly" over coronary activities there.

Likud MK Moshe Passal has now proposed a law to compensate the religious volunteers for their work in southern Israel.