Meir Shamgar (; August 13, 1925 – October 18, 2019) was the chief justice of the

Israeli Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 jud ...

from 1983 to 1995.

Biography

Meir Shamgar (Sterenberg or Sternberg) was born in the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...

(present-day

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) to Eliezer and Dina Sterenberg. His parents were Revisionist Zionists. He immigrated to Palestine in 1939. He attended high school at the Balfour Gymnasium in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. He joined the Palmach and served in Company D. He then joined the

Irgun The Irgun (), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of th ...

. He was arrested in 1944 for anti-British activities, and interned in Africa at a detention camp in

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

. While in detention in Eritrea he studied law by a correspondence course with the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. Fellow inmates in Eritrea included

Yitzhak Shamir Yitzhak Shamir (, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh prime minister of Israel, serving two terms (1983–1984, 1986–1992). Before the establishment of the State of Israel, ...

and Shmuel Tamir. He participated in an escape attempt. In 1948, with the establishment of Israel, he was returned to Israel with the other detainees, where he enlisted in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

and participated in the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

. After the war, he studied

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

and law at the Government Law School of the

. On the morning of 18 October 2019, it was announced in Israeli media outlets that Shamgar had died. He was 94.

Legal career

Following his studies, Shamgar rejoined the army as a military prosecutor. He was appointed Deputy Military Advocate General in 1956, and Military Advocate General in 1961. Following the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, he designed the legal infrastructure of the Israeli military government in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. He attained the rank of Brigadier General. After retiring from the military, he served as

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

from 1968 to 1975. In 1975, he was appointed a justice of the

. In 1982, he was appointed Deputy President of the Supreme Court, and in 1983, he became the chief justice of the Supreme Court. He retired in 1995. In 1996 Shamgar chaired the Commission of Inquiry into the murder of Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

Personal life

Shamgar had three children with his wife Geula, who died in 1983. After her death, he married Michal Rubinstein, a retired judge who served as Vice President of the Tel Aviv District Court.

References

External links

And Justice for all, Voice of sweet reason

Uri Weiss, Remembering Meir Shamgar, the chief legal architect of Israeli apartheid
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shamgar, Meir 1925 births 2019 deaths Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Israel Judges of the Supreme Court of Israel Israel Prize for special contribution to society and the State recipients Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine Irgun members People from the Free City of Danzig Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Israeli people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of the British military Burials at Har HaMenuchot

Biography

Legal career

Personal life

See also

References

External links