Edna Arbel ( he, עדנה ארבל; born June 22, 1944) is an Israeli lawyer who was a justice on the

Supreme Court of Israel The Supreme Court (, ''Beit HaMishpat HaElyon''; ar, المحكمة العليا) 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 C ...

from May 2004 to June 2014. She is a native of Jerusalem.

Legal career

In 1984, Arbel was appointed District Attorney of the Central District. She had previously served as a senior assistant to the District Attorney of the Central District. She served as a member of the Kahan Commission that investigated the

Sabra and Shatila massacre The Sabra and Shatila massacre (also known as the Sabra and Chatila massacre) was the killing of between 460 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by the militia of the Lebanese Forces, a Maronite Christian Lebanes ...

. Edna Arbel rule that a willingness to settle a case create a waiver of rights, including a consent to abduction. Judge Arbel was involved in the Ben-Haim case, a custody battle that eventually involved

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

. A

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

judge, Bonnie Mizdol, described Israeli judge Arbel's judgment as ludicrous and "defying common sense." According to all known legal principles, a willingness to settle a case does not amount to a waiver of rights, let alone a consent to abduction. She ruled that henceforth no order of any kind issued by the religious courts of Israel must be enforced. In 1988, she was appointed as a judge in the Tel Aviv District Court. In January 1996, she succeeded

Dorit Beinisch Dorit Beinisch ( he, דורית ביניש; born February 28, 1942) 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, 2012 ...

State Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

. She served in this capacity for eight years, until being appointed to the Supreme Court. During her term, the prosecutor's staff grew from about 700 to 1,040 attorneys. In 2002, she drafted prosecution guidelines that exempt women from prosecution for false report when submitting false domestic violence or sexual harassment complaint to the police. In 2004, Arbel was nominated for the Supreme Court by then Chief Justice

Aharon Barak Aharon Barak ( he, אהרן ברק; born Erik Brick, 16 September 1936) is an Israeli lawyer and jurist who served as President of the Supreme Court of Israel from 1995 to 2006. Prior to this, Barak served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of I ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbel, Edna Living people 1944 births Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Israeli women judges Lawyers from Jerusalem Israeli Jews Israeli people of Czech-Jewish descent Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent State Attorneys of Israel