The Israeli Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial forum in the state. It sits in Jerusalem, the capital, and its jurisdiction extends throughout the state. It is the highest judicial authority, and its precedents are binding not only on all lower courts, but also on all persons and other authorities in the state. Together with the legislative arm (the Knesset) and the executive arm (the Government), the Judiciary, and the Supreme Court at its head, stands at one of the apexes of the triangle of the three authorities of the regime.

 The stamp on this FDC dated 17.9.1992 depicts the new building which would house the supreme court. The erection of a building for the Supreme Court has been made possible by a contribution of the Rothschild Foundation, and through the praiseworthy initiative of Dorothy de Rothschild, of blessed memory, in response to an approach by the President of the Supreme Court. All the investments in the building and its surroundings have been made by the Rothschild Foundation alone.  

The design of the Supreme Court building was chosen by an international competition held in 1985. 174 Israeli architects participated in the first stage of the competition and 4 of them joined 6 previously chosen firms in submitting designs for final selection. The winning design was the work of the Israeli architects, Ram Karmi and Ada Karmi-Melamede.  The court building is situated in the David Ben-Gurion complex, and comprises a vestibule, library, courtrooms, judges' chambers, boardrooms, and an administrative wing. It also includes a public area with rooms for lawyers and journalists, a post office, and restaurant. The foundation stone of the Supreme Court building was laid on April 29, 1987, and the building operations began in 1989. The building was opened in a State ceremony, attended by the President of the state, its leaders and judges, on November 10th 1992.

Thank you Dear Merja for this nice cover.