Israeli Supreme Court Appoints First Muslim Judge

Israeli Supreme Court Appoints First Muslim Judge
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Israeli Supreme Court Appoints First Muslim Judge

Israeli Supreme Court Appoints First Muslim Judge

Israel on Monday named the first-ever Muslim judge to gain a permanent seat on the Supreme Court, the Jewish state’s highest judicial authority, court authorities said.

More than 20 percent of Israeli citizens are Arab, and there has been an Arab jurist on the top court since 2003, but all previous appointees have been Christian.

Khaled Kabub, 63, has become the first Muslim permanently named to the tribunal in the nation where Arabs, Christian and Muslim, have complained of systematic discrimination.

Previously a judge at the Tel Aviv district court, Kabub was one of four new justices appointed by a committee comprised of Supreme Court judges, ministers, lawmakers and lawyers, AFP reported.

Born in Jaffa, he studied history and Islam at Tel Aviv University. He completed his law degree there, and then worked in private practice before becoming a judge.

The only other Muslim to have sat on the Supreme Court was Abdel Rahman Zoabi, who was given a temporary, one-year term, in 1999.

Israel’s Supreme Court regularly hears cases that touch on flashpoints in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including alleged violations by troops in the occupied West Bank.

The court is also due to decide on efforts by seven Palestinian families to overturn lower court rulings evicting them from their homes in the flashpoint neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.



Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a four-day visit to Hungary on Thursday, defying an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has expanded its military operation in the enclave.

As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made clear when he issued the invitation that Hungary would not respect the ruling.

Netanyahu is due to meet Orban ahead of a press conference at around 1000 GMT.

In Budapest, workers were constructing a stage in the Buda Castle on Wednesday, where Orban was scheduled to welcome Netanyahu in a ceremony with military honors on Thursday morning and security forces could be seen near the central Budapest hotel where Netanyahu will be staying, The AP news reported.

The visit will be only the second he has made abroad since the International Criminal Court issued warrants to arrest both him and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last November, but details of his program have been limited apart from a planned visit to a Holocaust memorial.

He visited Washington in February to meet close ally US President Donald Trump. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC, with Washington arguing the ICC could be used for politically motivated prosecutions.

Orban invited Netanyahu to visit a day after the ICC issued its arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, where Israel launched an offensive following a devastating attack by thousands of Hamas fighters on the October 7 attack.

Since then, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated the Gaza Strip, triggering protests worldwide and prompting South Africa to launch separate legal action in the International Court of Justice, a different body to the ICC, accusing Israel of genocide.