Daniel Friedmann (; born 17 April 1936) is a former professor at and dean of the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law. He served as the Minister of Justice of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

from 2007 to 2009, having been appointed by then-Prime Minister

Ehud Olmert Ehud Olmert (; , ; born 30 September 1945) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009. The son of a former Herut politician, Olmert was first elected to the Knesset for Likud in 1973, at th ...

. He was sworn in on February 7, 2007, succeeding

Tzipi Livni Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni (, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), foreign mini ...

. In 2009 he was succeeded by

Ya'akov Ne'eman Yaakov Israel Neeman (; 16 September 1939 – 1 January 2017) was an Israeli lawyer who served as Justice Ministry (Israel), Minister of Justice and Finance Ministry (Israel), Minister of Finance, although he was never a member of the Knesset. ...

Early life

Friedmann was born in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

into a family that had lived there for seven generations.The government approved this evening: Friedman - Minister of Justice
Yedioth Ahronoth, 6 February 2007 He studied law 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. ...

, receiving a master's degree in 1957. He also served as a legal officer 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 ...

. Friedmann clerked for

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 ...

judge Yoel Zussman from 1959 to 1961 and studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

from 1961 to 1962. He was admitted to the Israeli bar in 1963. From 1963 to 1965 he worked as a lawyer 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 ...

before beginning his academic career. He received a doctorate in law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1967 and an

LLM A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with Self-supervised learning, self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially Natural language generation, language g ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1971.

Academic career

Friedmann was a professor of law at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

in the 1960s and 70s, including a stint as dean of the faculty of law there between 1974 and 1978. He subsequently taught law in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at Harvard, Penn, and Fordham, and in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Queen Mary, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

. Friedmann has authored numerous legal articles and treatises in Hebrew and English.

Awards and honours

Friedmann is the recipient of several Israeli and international awards, including the

Zeltner Prize Zeltner is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bruno Zeltner (born 1967), Swiss sailor *Gustav Georg Zeltner Gustav Georg Zeltner (16 September 1672, in Hiltpoltstein – 20 July 1738, in Poppenreuth) was a Lutheran theologian. ...

(awarded to an outstanding jurist), the Sussman Prize, the Minkoff Prize, and the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

, in 1991, for law.

Politics and government

Friedman had been a member of the now-defunct

Democratic Movement for Change The Democratic Movement for Change (, ''Tnu'a Demokratit LeShinui''), commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Dash (), was a short-lived and initially highly successful centrist political party in Israel. Formed in 1976 by numerous well-known ...

party, and later appeared at the symbolic 120th place on the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

electoral list of one of its successor parties,

Shinui Shinui () was a Zionist, secular, and anti-clerical free market Liberalism worldwide, liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third-largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collaps ...

, in the 2003 elections.

Israeli Prime Minister The prime minister of Israel (, Hebrew abbreviation: ; , ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the State of Israel. Israel is a parliamentary republic with a president as the head of state. The presiden ...

appointed Friedmann as the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

on February 6, 2007.Our Fresh, New Justice Minister
Jerusalem Post, 7 February 2007 He was confirmed by the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

unanimously and by the Knesset (50-24-1) on February 7. He was sworn in the same day. The initial reaction to appointment was mixed, but the commentators agree that Friedmann is strongly critical of the Israeli Judiciary. In the past Friedmann has declared a preference for reforming the system by which justices are appointed to the

References

External links