The Israeli Supreme Court and the Protection of Persons in Time of Armed Conflicts (La Cour Suprême Israélienne et la Protection des Personnes en Temps de Conflits Armés) (French)
Revue Générale de Droit International Public, Vol. 3, pp. 555-588, 2009
34 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2010
Date Written: July 17, 2009
Abstract
Since the 9/11 attacks, it seems that the International and domestic Tribunals have been rediscovering the complex issue of conciliating the preservation of the safety of the State and its population and the protection of basic rights. And yet, since nearly sixty years the Israeli Supreme Court has forged its own approach of this issue. Indeed, the topic of the survival of the State being considered by the Supreme Court as consubstantial to its daily existence since 1948, thousands of judgements based on individual petitions have been delivered attempting to put in balance these two key-values, which are safety and liberty.
However, because these decisions are delivered at the same time by the judge of a State, which is said at war and by the body of a legal system, which wants to be democratic, they are necessarily ambiguous and unsatisfactory according to the point of view adopted to read them. Beyond these ambiguities and dissatisfactions, this study also wishes to clarify their contribution to the international humanitarian law and its implementation.
Note: Downloadable document is in French.
Keywords: Israel, Judicial Power, Supreme Court, IDF, Targeted Killings, Terrorism, International Armed Conflict, Relativity of Human Rights, Basic Law, International Humanitarian Law, Unlawful Combatants
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation