Yael Willner (; Arieli (), born 22 September 1959) is an Israeli jurist who has served as a 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 ...

since 2017. She is considered a conservative justice on the Supreme Court.

Early life and education

Willner was born in

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 ...

, one of six children born to Ruth Hanna and Nahum Arieli. Her paternal grandfather is Rabbi Yitzhak Arieli. She attended the Ulpanat Chorev ( he) national religious high school in

Bayit VeGan Bayit VeGan (, lit. ''House and Garden'', also Bayit Vagan) is a neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem. It is located to the east of Mount Herzl, and borders the neighborhoods of Kiryat HaYovel and Givat Mordechai. History Bronze Age A 4,000-ye ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and graduated in 1977. During this time, she participated in

Gush Emunim Gush Emunim (, lit. "Bloc of the Faithful") was an Israeli ultranationalist religious Zionist Orthodox Jewish right-wing fundamentalist activist movement committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan ...

settlement activity. She served in

Sherut Leumi Sherut Leumi (, ) is an alternative voluntary form of national service in Israel, as opposed to the mandatory military conscription prevalent in the country. It is designed for individuals who do not meet the eligibility criteria for service in ...

for one year in

Kiryat Shmona Kiryat Shmona () is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley near the Lebanon, Lebanese border. In it had a population of . Located near the Blue Line (withdrawal line), Israel ...

in 1978. Willner began studying 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. ...

in 1978 and graduated with a law degree in 1982. From 1980 to 1981, she worked as a parliamentary aide to

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 ...

member

Haim Kaufman Haim Kaufman (; 12 December 1934 – 7 August 1995) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1977 and 1988, and again from 1990 until his death in 1995. Biography Born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era, ...

, and from 1981 to 1983 she interned with Supreme Court judge

Moshe Bejski Moshe Bejski (; 29 December 1921 – 6 March 2007) was a Polish-born Israeli Supreme Court Justice and President of Yad Vashem's Righteous Among the Nations Commission. After surviving the Holocaust with the help of Oskar Schindler, Bejski imm ...

and at the State Attorney's Office with

Dorit Beinisch Dorit Beinisch (; born February 28, 1942) is a retired Israeli jurist. She was the 9th president of the Supreme Court of Israel. Appointed on September 14, 2006, after the retirement of Aharon Barak, she served in this position until February 28 ...

Legal career

After being admitted to the

Israel Bar Association Israel Bar Association (; IBA) is the bar association for all Israeli lawyers. History The Israel Bar Association was established by The Bar Association Law, 1961. The law went into effect in March 1962. The Association is organized as a cor ...

in 1983, she practiced law as an attorney from 1983 to 1998. In 1998, Willner was appointed a judge on the

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Magistrate's Court. In 2004, she was appointed a registrar and acting judge in the Haifa District Court, and was appointed as a permanent judge on the Haifa District Court in 2006. She was a candidate for the Supreme Court in 2011, but was not appointed. She was selected to serve on the Supreme Court by the Judicial Selection Committee in February 2017, and began serving in October 2017.

Personal life

She is married to Yosef Willner and is a mother of four children. She lives in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood of Haifa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willner, Yael 1959 births Living people Judges of the Supreme Court of Israel Israeli women judges Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law alumni