ISRAEL-LAW.ORG
by Shamai Leibowitz, Esq.
Israeli Supreme Court: The State Must Release Ghanaian Father of Child with AIDS and Grant Him Visa
The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in March 2010 that an undocumented alien from Ghana must be released and allowed to remain in Israel to treat his son who is suffering from AIDS. The alien, a former UN worker who has lived in Israel since 1982, was terminated from the UN in 2002, and remained in Israel illegally. After being arrested by the Immigration Police, he petitioned the District Court to grant him a temporary visa to pursue medical treatments for his son who is suffering from AIDS. The District Court denied his petition. Ruling that this decision unfairly and unreasonably ignored the best interests of the sick child, the Supreme Court overturns the decision, and grants the father and son permission to remain in Israel for at least one year. The Supreme Court relied on Article 3(1) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that
In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
Justice Neal Hendel wrote the court's decision and he was joined by Justices Elyakim Rubinstein and Hanan Meltzer.
The Anat Kam-Uri Blau- Yair Naveh Affair (Israel's Pentagon Papers)
Relevant Legal Materials and Links:
HCJ 769/02 - the Supreme Court decision on targeted assassinations [12.13.06, English version]
Uri Blau's Article Based on Leaked Documents (Haaretz 11.28.08): Secret IDF Documents: The Chief of Staff and IDF Top Brass Authorized the Assassinations of Wanted Persons and Innocents [Hebrew only]
Indictment Filed Against Anat Kam [English translation courtesy of Dimi Reider]
District Court Rules Hardware Store, Whose Employee Committed Murder, and Mall, Where Murder Occurred, Must Pay Over 2.5 Million Damages
The Tel Aviv District Court this week (April 5, 2010) handed down a precedential decision in a tort liability case, ruling that two Israeli companies are liable, under the tort of negligence, to pay damages to the estate and family members of Tamar Brez, who was murdered by an employee of one company on the premises owned by the other company.
Classigan, which employed the murderer Yigal Axelrod, and Betili, the mall where the murder occurred, must pay damages in the amount of 2,510,673 NIS to two family members and to the estate of Tamar Brez, who was brutally raped and murdered in 1997 at the Betili mall in Ramat Gan.
In 2004, the estate, the mother and the sister of Tamar Brez filed a Complaint for Damages against Classigan and Betili. Following a trial (a bench trial - no jury trials in Israel) Judge Dalia Ganot found that the two companies owed a duty to care to the patrons of the store, and further found that the companies breached that duty of care, and that there was a causal link between the breach and the murder. Therefore, under the Israeli interpretation of the scope of the tort of negligence, they must pay more than 2.5 million shekels damages to the mother and sister of Tamar Brez.
(Tmura Center, a non-profit founded in 2006 to combat discrimination and empower minorities, represented the estate and the family members of Tamar Berez.)
Supreme Court Strikes Down Privatization of Prisons on Constitutional Grounds
On November 19, 2009, the Hight Court of Justice invalidated an amendment to the Prisons Ordinance that would have allowed for the establishment of a private prison run by a private corporation.
In her ruling, Chief Justice Dorit Beinish held the transfer of control over Israel's prisons from the State to private hands would constitute a severe violation of prisoners' basic human rights.
Justice E. Levy, in the minority opinion, wrote that it was too early to determine that the proposed amendment is unconstitutional, as it has not been implemented yet.
For the Hebrew version of the Judgment, click here.
Print