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International Humanitarian Law and the Israeli Supreme Court

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2014

Aharon Barak
Aharon Barak*
Affiliation:
President (ret) of the Israeli Supreme Court; Professor of Law, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya. This article is based on a lecture hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 3 July 2013; aharonbarak@gmail.com.
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Abstract

In contrast with most other municipal courts in the world, the Israeli Supreme Court routinely decides cases based on international humanitarian law (IHL). Since the Six Day War in 1967, both the state and the Supreme Court have agreed that the Court has jurisdiction to decide humanitarian issues that come before it from territory held under belligerent occupation. The Court has indeed done so in issues ranging from land seizures to targeted killings, ruling on the basis of the relevant IHL. The Court has been criticised for its judgments, both from the right wing of the political spectrum, who see it as interfering with military matters, and from the left, who see it as granting legitimacy to occupation. In this article, I briefly describe the development, both historical and legal, of IHL in the Israeli Supreme Court, the criticism of the way the law is applied by the Court, and finally the importance of the fundamental concepts of human dignity and proportionality to IHL decisions.

Keywords

Israel Supreme Courtinternational humanitarian lawhuman dignityproportionalitybelligerent occupation
Type
Articles
Information
Israel Law Review , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , July 2014 , pp. 181 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and The Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2014 

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References

1 Frowein, Jochen A and Stein, Eric, ‘International Law in Municipal Courts’ (1997) 91 ASIL Proceedings 290Google Scholar; Knop, Karen, ‘Here and There: International Law in Domestic Courts’ (2000) 32 New York University Journal of International Law and Policy 501Google Scholar.

2 Barak, Aharon, ‘Human Rights in Israel’ (2006) 39 Israel Law Review 12, 23–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Barak, Aharon, ‘Human Rights in Times of Terror – A Judicial Point of View’ (2008) 28 Legal Studies 493, 499–505CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 HCJ 5100/94 Public Committee Against Torture in Israel v Government of Israel 53(4) PD 817 (1999) (Interrogations).

4 HCJ 2056/04 Beit Sourik Village Council v Israel and Israeli Defence Force Commander in the West Bank 58(5) PD 807 (2004), ILDC 16 (Separation Fence); see also HCJ 7957/04 Marabe v Prime Minister of Israel and Others 60(2) PD 477 (2005), ILDC 157; HCJ 4825/04 Alian v Prime Minister of Israel (not reported, 16 March 2006); HCJ 11205/05 Azaria Village Council v Government of Israel (not reported, 23 May 2006); HCJ 396/05 Alrazikat v Government of Israel (not reported, 6 July 2006); HCJ 9961/03 Center for Defence of the Individual Founded by Dr Lotte Salzberger v Government of Israel (not reported, 5 April 2011); HCJ 10202/06 Municipality of Dahariya v Commander of IDF Forces in the West Bank (not reported, 12 November 2012).

5 HCJ 3799/02 Adalah – Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and Others v General Officer Commanding Central Command, Israeli Defence Force and Others 60(3) PD 67 (2005), ILDC 155 (Early Warning).

6 HCJ 769/02 Public Committee Against Torture in Israel v Government of Israel 57(6) PD 285 (2005), ILDC 597 (Targeted Killings).

7 HCJ 7015/02 Ajuri and Others v Israeli Defence Force Commander in West Bank and Others 56(6) PD 352 (2002), ILDC 14; see also HCJ 5793/92 Association for Civil Rights in Israel v Minister of Defence 47(1) PD 267 (1993); HCJ 5591/02 Yassin v Commander of Kziot 57(1) PD 403 (2002); HCJ 5784/03 Salame v Commander of IDF Forces in Judea and Samaria 57(6) PD 721 (2003); HCJ 2028/05 Amara v Minister of Interior (not reported, 10 July 2006).

8 For example, HCJ 1748/06 Mayor of Ad-Dhahiriya v IDF Commander in West Bank (not reported, 14 December 2006), http://elyon1.court.gov.il/files_eng/06/480/017/a20/06017480.a20.pdf; HCJ 2150/07 Abu Safiyeh v Minister of Defence (not reported, 29 December 2009), http://elyon1.court.gov.il/files_eng/07/500/021/m19/07021500.m19.pdf.

9 For example, HCJ 3114/02 Barake v Minister of Defence of Israel and Others 56(3) PD 11 (2002), ILDC 369; HCJ 4764/04 Physicians for Human Rights and Others v Israeli Defence Force Commander in the Gaza Strip 58(5) PD 385 (2004), ILDC 17 (Wartime Relief); HCJ 201/09 Physicians for Human Rights v Prime Minister of Israel (2009), ILDC 1213.

10 HCJ 3278/02 Center for Defence of the Individual Founded by Dr Lotta Salzberger v Commander of IDF Forces in the West Bank 57(1) PD 375 (2002); Yassin (n 7); HCJ 3239/02 Marab v Commander of IDF Forces in Judea and Samaria 57(2) PD 349 (2003), ILDC 15.

11 Shamgar, Meir, ‘Legal Concepts and Problems of the Israeli Military Government – The Initial Stage’ in Shamgar, Meir (ed), Military Government in the Territories Administered by Israel 1967–1980: The Legal Aspects (Harry Sacher Institute for Legislative Research and Comparative Law, Hebrew University 1982) Vol 1, 43Google Scholar fn 56 (‘According to the instructions and guidelines of the present writer when serving as Military Advocate General and later as Attorney General of Israel, the State never raised the plea of a lack of locus standi’); also ibid 42–43 (‘Israel decided … to subject the acts of its military government to judicial review by the Supreme Court of Israel sitting as the High Court of Justice'); Kretzmer, David, The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories (SUNY Press 2002) 22Google Scholar.

12 Basic Law: The Judiciary, 1984 (Israel), s 15(c).

13 ibid s 15(d)(2).

14 CrimA 5/51 Steinberg v Attorney General 5 PD 1061, 1066 (1951); CrimA 174/54 Stampfer v Attorney General 10 PD 5, 17 (1956); HCJ 606/78 Iyub v Minister of Defence 33(2) PD 113, 120 (1979); HCJ 698/80 Kawasme v Minister of Defence 35(1) PD 617, 627 (1980); HCJ 785/87 Affu v Commander of IDF Forces in the West Bank 42(2) PD 4, 76 (1988).

15 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I) (entered into force 7 December 1978) 1125 UNTS 3 (Additional Protocol I).

16 Pictet, Jean (ed), Commentary on the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in time of War (International Committee of the Red Cross 1956)Google Scholar.

17 Henckaerts, Jean-Marie and Doswald-Beck, Louise, Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol I (International Committee of the Red Cross and Cambridge University Press 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 Barak (2006) (n 2) 26–30.

19 Kretzmer (n 11) 190.

20 Cicero, Pro Milone (Watts, NH tr, 5th edn, Harvard University Press 1972) 16Google Scholar (‘Silent enim leges inter arma’).

21 HCJ 168/91 Morcos v Minister of Defence 45(1) PD 467, 470–71 (1991) (‘[E]ven when the cannons speak, the military commander must uphold the law’); cf William Rehnquist, All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime (Knopf Doubleday 1998) 224 (arguing that Cicero's statement reflects reality).

22 Interrogations (n 3) 605.

23 Wartime Relief (n 9).

24 Targeted Killings (n 6).

25 Aharon Barak, Human Dignity: The Constitutional Value and the Constitutional Right (Cambridge University Press, 2014 forthcoming).

26 Barak (2006) (n 2) 23–25.

27 Barak, Aharon, ‘The Role of a Supreme Court in a Democracy and the Fight against Terrorism’ (2003) 58 University of Miami Law Review 125, 130Google Scholar; Barak (2008) (n 2).

28 Barak, Aharon, The Judge in a Democracy (Princeton University Press 2006) 190Google Scholar; Segal, Ze'ev, Standing Before the Supreme Court Sitting as a High Court of Justice (2nd edn, Papirus 1993) (in Hebrew)Google Scholar. Regarding justiciablity, see also Iyub (n 14) 124; HCJ 910/86 Ressler v Minister of Defence 42(2) PD 441(1988).

29 See HCJ 1005/89 Aga v Commander of IDF Forces in Gaza 44(1) PD 536 (1990); Wartime Relief (n 9).

30 Separation Fence (n 4) 304.

31 Targeted Killings (n 6) 504.

32 ‘Second Report of the Public Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident of 31 May 2010: Israel's Mechanisms for Examining and Investigating Complaints and Claims of Violations of the Laws of Armed Conflict according to International Law’, 6 February 2013, http://www.turkel-committee.gov.il/files/newDoc3/The%20Turkel%20Report%20for%20website.pdf (English translation).

33 For example, HCJ 6427/02 Movement for Quality of Government in Israel v The Knesset 61(1) PD 619 (2006); HCJ 7052/03 Adalah – Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel v Minister of Interior 61(2) PD 202 (2006), ILDC 393 (Family Reunification); HCJ 366/03 Commitment to Peace and Social Justice Society v Minister of Finance 60(3) PD 464 (2005); see also Barak (n 25).

34 For example, CA 6821/93 United Mizrachi Bank v Migdal 49(4) PD 221 (1995); Movement for Quality of Government in Israel v The Knesset (n 33); Family Reunification (n 33); HCJ 1661/05 Regional Council of Hof Gaza v The Knesset 59(5) PD 673 (2005); see also Aharon Barak, Proportionality: Constitutional Rights and Their Limitations (Cambridge University Press 2012).

35 For example, Interrogations (n 3); Wartime Relief (n 9); Early Warning (n 5); Targeted Killings (n 6).

36 For example, Separation Fence (n 4); Targeted Killings (n 6); HCJ 8276/05 Adalah – Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel v Minister of Defence 62(1) PD 1 (2006), ILDC 593.

37 For example, ‘Declaration on Minimum Humanitarian Standards’, UN Doc E/CN.4/1995/116 (1995) (Declaration of Turku). See also Report of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Minimum Humanitarian Standards, UN Doc E/CN.4/1998/87 (1988), para 99: (‘For too long, these two branches of law have operated in distinct spheres, even though both take as their starting point concern for human dignity’); ‘UN-ICRC: Guidelines for UN Forces’, ICRC Resource Centre, 15 May 1996, http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jmx3.htm (‘[The guidelines’] main purpose, as that of international humanitarian law as a whole, is to preserve human dignity').

38 Meron, Theodor, Human Rights and Humanitarian Norms as Customary Law (Clarendon Press 1989) 65Google Scholar; Higgins, Rosalyn, Problems and Process – International Law and How We Use It (Oxford University Press 1995) 219CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Delbrück, Jost, ‘Proportionality’ in Bernhardt, Rudolph (ed), Encyclopaedia of Public International Law (North-Holland 1997) 1140Google Scholar.

39 Targeted Killings (n 6).

40 ibid 503, 519.

41 Family Reunification (n 33) 539–40.