PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) - Israel’s top judicial official said Thursday that the goal of her country’s Supreme Court is to respect human rights while maintaining security during “a permanent state of emergency.”
Israeli Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch said in a speech at Princeton University that one of the main challenges the court faces is that international law has yet to fully adapt to modern terrorist threats.
“International law has not yet developed a means to respond to the fight against these terrorist organizations,” she said. “Most of the conventions are against conventional threats, and therefore we must adapt the existing humanitarian laws to this current environment.”
Beinisch said current legal guidelines often classify suspected members of terrorist organizations or those the Israeli military may consider unlawful combatants as having civilian status under international law. As such, Beinisch said her job is to ensure that basic human rights _ from the length of a detention to a detainee’s access to clean water or health care _ are respected.
She said that sometimes conflicts with the Israeli military’s desire to hold those it suspects of plotting terrorist activities, even if it falls short of the evidence burden the court requires.
Her speech came as the Israeli army is under international scrutiny for its behavior during its Gaza invasion.
More than 1,400 Gazans, including more than 900 civilians, were killed during Israel’s three-week military offensive, according to a Palestinian human rights group. Israel insists the majority of those killed were armed men, but it has not provided evidence.
The Gaza offensive, launched to end years of rocket fire at Israeli towns, ended Jan. 18.
Beinisch, who has served on the court since 1995 and became its first female president in September 2006, declined to take questions from the press Thursday.
She told the university audience her court often decides cases in a way with which the Israeli government disagrees. She said that a 1999 ban on torture methods is strictly upheld by the courts and that the Supreme Court has pushed the military and the Israeli government to reconsider the parameters of their border security fence.
Beinisch cited cases in which the Supreme Court ruled to decrease limits on administrative detention or ordered the Israeli government to restore electricity and water service to parts of the Gaza strip that had been shut off during an offensive.
“The right to the property and dignity of everybody must be protected by the military commanders, unless it’s a security issue,” Beinisch said. “These things often conflict with each other.”
Beinisch has focused much of her legal career on examining how government institutions can uphold the law while protecting human rights.
The Tel Aviv native began her public service career in 1967. She has served in Israel’s Ministry of Justice and Criminal Law Department and as the attorney general of Israel.
She said that during her time on the Supreme Court, its 14 justices have dealt with almost every issue in Israeli life.
“These are very unusual examples of what comes to our court in a very difficult, complex situation of war activities and terror activities that happen every day,” she said. “In these difficult times that we are experiencing, we have to prevail, so we’ll all be able to advance the laws of justice in times of peace.”
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