The Supreme Court of Israel: WikiWikiup.

From the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 until the dedication of the new Supreme Court building in 1992, the Supreme Court of Israel was housed in a rented building in Jerusalem’s Russian Compound, originally built as a hostel for Russian Orthodox pilgrims visiting Jerusalem. In 1984, the Rothschild Foundation (Yad Hanadiv) made a formal offer to the Government of Israel to donate a permanent building for the Supreme Court. The offer was gratefully accepted and an architectural competition was held in 1986. The winners, from Israel, were the brother-and-sister team of Ram Karmi and Ada Karmi Melamede from Tel Aviv. The new Supreme Court building was dedicated on November 10, 1992.

Several important factors were taken into consideration during the planning stage. The site of the building would be in Kiryat David Ben Gurion, adjacent to both the Knesset, the legislative branch of government and the executive branch of government; the building would integrate post-modern architectural elements, reflecting Jerusalem’s rich architectural history; the building would express values of justice, law and righteousness, drawing inspiration from biblical metaphor.

At present, there are 15 Justices who serve on the Supreme Court. Justices are selected by the Committee to Select Judges and are formally appointed by the President of the State. The President of the Supreme Court is the Justice who has served on the Court for the longest period of time. Cases are usually heard by a panel of three Justices; however, the President of the Supreme Court has the authority to appoint a larger panel when deemed necessary. The panel is always composed of an uneven number of Justices.

The Justices’ chambers are located on the top floor of the building, above the Courtyard of the Arches. Each chamber consists of an office for the law clerks, one for the secretary and a private office for the Justice.

Each chamber also has a small balcony. This floor of the building is closed to the public to enable the justices to work in a quiet environment and to separate them from the litigants who appear before them.

The President’s chamber is at the southern end of the Justices’ floor and faces the Knesset. The President of the Court, Justice Asher D. Grunis, was appointed in February 2012, following the retirement of President Dorit Beinisch.

The original letter written by Dorothy de Rothschild in 1984 to Prime Minister Shimon Peres, expressing her intention to donate a new building for the Supreme Court, is displayed outside the chamber.

The administrative wing of the Supreme Court and the Justices’ chambers surround the Courtyard of the Arches. This area is similar in design to the courtyard of the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem, built during the British Mandate period (1917-1948). The Courtyard is made of stone and is divided by a narrow channel of water. In planning the Courtyard, the architects were inspired by a verse from the Book of Psalms, “Truth will spring up from the earth and justice will be reflected from the heavens,”(85:12). This verse has been visually expressed through the elements of stone, water and sky. The stone, which comes from the desert, represents the solidity of law and the sky, which is reflected in the water, represents justice.

The Administrative Departments receive the public and register requests for civil and criminal appeals or petitions to the High Court of Justice.

The Civil Department handles requests for appeals of civil cases; the Criminal Department handles criminal appeals, appeals concerning arrest and release on bail. The High Court of Justice Department handles petitions against governmental authorities, prisoners’ petitions and re-hearings of decisions of the High Court of Justice.

V. http://elyon1.court.gov.il/eng/siyur/index.html