In a ruling given yesterday (Smileg v. the IDF and Michaelson – Bagatz 6001/09) the Supreme court in Israel affirmed the army’s decision not to take addiitonal actions against the superiors of Kobi Smileg z”l who was killed in Israel’s Second Lebanon War. The suit was brought by Kobi’s bereaved family, who felt that his commanders could have done more to save his life and should have received harsher treatment by the army.
I think that the decision was right, and was happy to see that the written decsion was heartwarming – in that you could see the judges empathy for the bereaved family – even though the bottom line was that they ruled against them.
I am proud to live in a country where I, as an Israeli lawyer, or you or anybody else who feels that something was done improperly in the army (or in any other part of the government for that matter) can take the matter to the highest court of the land to get an opinion. I am proud to live in a country that no matter what the world’s opinion, really does force the army to live to higher standard of morality.
I am even prouder to live in a country where when I read the court opinions I can see that the judges here are human beings first and judges second.
