Menachem Finkelstein was Israel's
Military Advocate General from 2000 to 2004, during the height of the
Second Intifada
The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...
.
Finkelstein was born in 1951 and received an
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
upbringing. He passed the Israeli bar exam in 1976. He served in the Judge Advocate General's office in the
IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
from 1973 to 2004, becoming a
Major-General. He presided over the judgment that
targeted killing
Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield.
Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...
s were a legal part of the
war on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
. In 2004
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
's
Sheikh Yassin was killed under the policy. In July 2003 Finkelstein decided not to open a criminal investigation into the death
International Solidarity Movement activist
Rachel Corrie
Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American activist and diarist. A member of the pro-Palestinian group International Solidarity Movement (ISM), she was crushed to death by an armored bulldozer of the Israel ...
, but he did open an investigation into the death of
Tom Hurndall in October 2003. In 2004 he testified before the
Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
's Law and Constitution committee and noted that "In all the fatality cases we have investigated, there has never been a single incident of deliberate shooting
f civilians by the IDF" He retired from the army in 2004 and became a district judge.
Works
English :
His book : Conversion : halakhah and practice / Menachem Finkelstein
ranslated from the Hebrew by Edward LevinRamat-Gan : Bar-Ilan University Press 2006.
This book was praised by Aaron Kirschenbaum and by
Daniel Sperber
"Legal Perspectives un the Fight Against Terror – The Israeli Experience" 1 IDF Rev. 341 (2003)
"The Dilemma of The Military Judge Advocate – General", DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES and their ARMED FORCES, ed. Stuart A. Cohen, pp.175-183(2000)
"The Israeli Military Legal System - overview of the current situation and a glimpse into the future", 52 Air Force Law Review. pp.137-167 (2002) (With Yifat Tomer)
"War and Morality: Image and Reality", 30 JUSTICE (Winter 2002), pp.11-15."Conversion in the Age of Immigration", 19 JUSTICE (Winter 1998), pp.47-49.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finkelstein, Menahem
1951 births
Living people