Jacob Turkel
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Jacob "Yaakov" Turkel (
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: יעקב טירקל; born in 1935 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli judge, and former
Supreme Court of Israel The Supreme Court (, ''Beit HaMishpat HaElyon''; ar, المحكمة العليا) 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 C ...
Justice. Turkel served as a judge for 38 years, a decade of that time on the Israeli Supreme Court. In June 2010, he was appointed to head the Israeli special independent Turkel Commission of Inquiry into the
Gaza flotilla raid The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six civilian ships of the " Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine activists and no Israelis were killed on one ship dur ...
.


Biography

Yaakov Turkel was born in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
to a family that had immigrated from
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
,
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, in 1933. At age five, the family moved to
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, where Turkel attended Ma'aleh, a state religious school. Turkel studied law at
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
, graduating from its law school in 1960.


Judicial career

From 1967 on, Turkel served on various courts, including the Shalom Court, as a Regional Court judge. From 1980 to 1995 he served as President of the
Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...
District Court (during which time he took two years off to serve as an acting Supreme Court justice). Turkel served as an Israeli Supreme Court Justice from 1995 until 2005. In August 2000 he wrote in an opinion that by filling in gaps of missing text in a 2,000-year-old
Dead Sea Scroll The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nort ...
, and deciphering and putting together scroll fragments, a scholar had shown "originality and creativity" that gave him a copyright in his work. In October 2000, he rejected an appeal by Holocaust survivors and the
Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...
against the first Israeli performance of a work by German composer
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
, who Holocaust survivors and others say promoted
anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
. In June 2004, he issued a
temporary injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
prohibiting the State of Israel from removing thousands of tons of earth and rubble mixed with assorted archaeologically rich artifacts lying on Jerusalem's
Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compoun ...
. He still sits on a military court appeals panel. Turkel was known during his tenure on the Supreme Court for writing a relatively large number of dissenting opinions, compared to his fellow Justices. This accorded with the Supreme Court opinion in which he wrote about the right of the individual to "shout out
is own In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' in ...
truth", and the article he wrote in ''Mehkarei Mishpat'' (''Bar-Ilan University Law Review'') in which he said: "The stand of the individual against an `overwhelming majority' is not a negligible matter."


Academic career

Turkel has taught at
Ben Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...
, the
University of Tel Aviv Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
, the law school of
Netanya Academic College Netanya Academic College ( he, האקדמית נתניה, ''HaAkademit Netanya'') is a private college based in Netanya, Israel. Established in 1994 by a team from Bar-Ilan University, it has an enrolment of around 4,000 undergraduate students. It ...
, and other academic institutions.


Public commissions


Gay rights

He headed a public commission that was set up in 1999 to reform Israel's inheritance law. The commission proposed in 2006 that the law's definition of a couple be altered from "husband and wife", so that it would apply to both gay and heterosexual couples. He also served as a member of the Committee of Judicial Appointments.


Other work

Turkel is also the current Chairman of the Award Committee, which administers
The EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
. In June 2010, he was appointed by
Israeli Prime Minister The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exec ...
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
to head the Israeli special independent commission of inquiry, referred to as the
Turkel Commission The Turkel Commission (officially The Public Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident of 31 May 2010) is an inquiry set up by Israeli Government to investigate the Gaza flotilla raid, and the Blockade of Gaza. It is led by Israeli retired Supr ...
, into the events in the flotilla in Gaza. The Commission investigated whether Israel's actions in preventing the arrival of ships in Gaza were in accordance with
international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
. It focused among other things on considering the security considerations for imposing a
naval blockade A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...
on the Gaza Strip and the conformity of the naval blockade with the rules of international law; the conformity of the actions during the raid to principles of international law; and the actions taken by those who organized and participated in the flotilla, and their identities. Also on the Commission were former Technion University President
Amos Horev Amos Horev ( he, עמוס חורב; born Amos Sochaczewer, 30 June 1924) is an Israeli military official and expert. He served as a commander in the Palmach the elite force of the Haganah before the founding of the state, and was later an Israeli ...
and two other members,
Miguel Deutch --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places *Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disamb ...
and
Reuven Merchav Reuben or Reuven ( he, רְאוּבֵן, Standard ''Rəʾūven'', Tiberian ''Rŭʾūḇēn'') was the first of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob’s oldest son), according to the Book of Genesis. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Re ...
, added in July 2010.
Shabtai Rosenne Shabtai Rosenne (Hebrew: שבתאי רוזן) (24 November 1917 – 21 September 2010) was a Professor of International Law and an Israeli diplomat. Rosenne was awarded the 1960 Israel Prize for Jurisprudence, the 1999 Manley O. Hudson Medal f ...
,
Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...
Professor of International Law, also served on the Commission from its establishment until his death on 21 September 2010. In addition, the Commission had two foreign observers, former
First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of '' ...
of
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
David Trimble William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a British politician who was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He was ...
, and former head of the Canadian military's judiciary, Judge Advocate General
Ken Watkin Brigadier General Kenneth "Ken" Watkin, (born 1954) is a Canadian lawyer, soldier and jurist. Watkin was Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the Canadian Forces from 2006 to 2010. He is an expert on military law. He was promoted to brigadier genera ...
, who took part in hearings and discussions, but did not vote on the final conclusions."Who's who on Israel's committee on the Gaza flotilla raid"
, ''Haaretz'', June 14, 2010


See also

*
Public Committee (Israel) A Public Committee ( he, ועדה ציבורית) is a committee appointed by the Israeli Cabinet, or by other various governmental bodies in Israel, and at times with the cooperation of other Israeli public bodies, in order to objectively explore ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turkel, Jacob 1935 births Israeli people of Austrian-Jewish descent Israeli Jews Judges of the Supreme Court of Israel Lawyers from Beersheba Living people Israeli commissions and inquiries Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law alumni Ben-Gurion University of the Negev faculty Tel Aviv University faculty 20th-century Israeli judges 21st-century Israeli judges