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.



Iran Guards Say Military Capabilities ‘Red Lines’ in US Talks 

The US flag is seen at the former United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, April 8, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
The US flag is seen at the former United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, April 8, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iran Guards Say Military Capabilities ‘Red Lines’ in US Talks 

The US flag is seen at the former United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, April 8, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
The US flag is seen at the former United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, April 8, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said Tuesday the country's military capabilities were off limits, ahead of a second round of talks with the United States on its nuclear program.

"National security and defense and military power are among the red lines of Iran, which cannot be discussed or negotiated under any circumstances," Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said, quoted by state broadcaster IRIB.

Iran and the United States will hold another round of talks in Muscat on Saturday, a week after top officials met in the Omani capital for the highest-level discussions since the 2015 nuclear deal collapsed.

US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the United States from the 2015 deal during his first term, has reinstated his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran since returning to office in January.

In March, he sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei calling for nuclear talks and warning of possible military action if Tehran refused.

Trump addressed reporters on Monday regarding Iran, saying "I'll solve that problem" and "That's almost an easy one".

The US leader also threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and called Iranian authorities "radicals" who should not possess nuclear weapons.

Iran has repeatedly denied seeking an atomic bomb, insisting its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, especially the provision of energy.

Late Sunday, Iran's official IRNA news agency said the country's regional influence and its missile capabilities were among its "red lines" in the talks.

Tehran supports the "axis of resistance" -- a network of armed groups opposed to Israel, including Yemen's Houthi militias, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Shiite militia groups in Iraq.

On April 12, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman for "indirect" talks, according to Iranian officials and media.

The talks were the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of the 2015 accord, formally known is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The accord offered Iran relief from international sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

Both Tehran and Washington, enemies who have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran's 1979 revolution, have called the latest round of negotiations "constructive".

Araghchi's office has said he will travel to Moscow at the end of this week for talks with Russia, a close ally of Iran and party to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Moscow welcomed the Iran-US talks as it pushed for a diplomatic solution and warned any military confrontation would be a "global catastrophe".