Meir Shamgar ( he, מאיר שמגר; August 13, 1925 – October 18, 2019) was the chief justice of the Israeli Supreme Court from 1983 to 1995.

Biography

Meir Shamgar (Sterenberg or Sternberg) was born in the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

(present-day

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

, Poland) 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. He joined the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...

and served in Company D. He then joined the Irgun. He was arrested in 1944 for anti-British activities, and interned in Africa at a detention camp in

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

. While in detention in Eritrea he studied law by a correspondence course with the University of London. Fellow inmates in Eritrea included Yitzhak Shamir and

Shmuel Tamir Shmuel M. Tamir ( he, שמואל תמיר, born Shmuel Katznelson; 10 March 1923 – 29 June 1987) was a prominent Israeli independence fighter, lawyer, patriot and Knesset member. After a successful career fighting the British he entered the K ...

. 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; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

and participated in the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

. After the war, he studied history and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

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 ...

and law at the Government Law School of the University of London. 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, he designed the legal infrastructure of the Israeli military government in the West Bank and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. 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 or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

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

Personal life

Shamgar had three children with his wife Geula, who died in 1983.http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/745/816.html 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

Biography

Legal career

Personal life

See also

References

External links