Michael Ben-Yair
Michael Ben-Yair | |
|---|---|
מיכאל בן יאיר | |
 | |
| Attorney General of Israel | |
| In office 1993–1996 | |
| Acting Judge, Supreme Court of Israel | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 September 1942 Sheikh Jarrah,  Mandatory Palestine |
| Nationality |  Israel |
| Occupation | Judge |
Michael Ben-Yair (Hebrew: מיכאל בן יאיר; born 1 September 1942) was raised in Sheikh Jarrah until 1948, is a former Attorney General of Israel, a position he held from 1993 to 1996,[1] and former acting judge at the Supreme Court of Israel.
Biography
In 1994, while attorney general, Ben-Yair petitioned then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to evict all Jewish settlers living in Hebron, following the attack by Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein that resulted in 29 deaths and 125 injuries at the Cave of the Patriarchs/Ibrahimi Mosque.[2]
In 2014, Ben-Yair said that Israel had instituted apartheid in the West Bank and called on the European Union to recognize the State of Palestine.[2] In 2019, he co-wrote a letter to The Guardian acknowledging that The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 Gaza protests should be supported in full.[3]
In 2022, Ben-Yair wrote an op-ed in an Irish newspaper agreeing with the then recent Amnesty International report characterizing Israel as an apartheid regime.[4] In 2025, he published a tweet agreeing with the then recent B'Tselem report characterizing Israel as committing genocide in Gaza.[5][6]
Ben-Yair's grandmother, Sarah Jannah, owned a home in Sheikh Jarrah before 1948. In 2019, he discovered that a settler group was charging rent to the Palestinian family that had lived there since the 1960s. For six years, he fought a legal battle to regain ownership and allow the Palestinians to live in the building for a nominal rent.[7][8] His family successfully regained control in 2025, on the condition that they not sue to recover the rent that was paid.[9]
See also
References
- ^ Ben-Yair, Michael (Mar 3, 2002). "The war's seventh day". Haaretz. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- ^ a b Jalil, Justin. "Ex-Israeli attorney general urges EU to recognize Palestine". Times of Israel. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
- ^ Michael Ben-Yair; Avraham Burg; Ilana Hammerman; David Harel; Alex Levac; Yehuda "Judd" Ne'eman; David Shulman; Zeev Sternhell (2019-03-14). "Former Israel attorney general Michael Ben-Yair, Former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg and six other Israelis on the UN inquiry into Gaza protests". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
- ^ "Former AG of Israel: With great sadness I conclude that my country is now an apartheid regime". thejournal.ie. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
- ^ Ben-Yair, Michael [@1benyair] (Jul 28, 2025). "לדראון עולם. יהודים, שעברו רצח עם לפני 80 שנה, לדראון עולם. יהודים, שעברו רצח עם לפני 80 שנה, עושים רצח עם בעזה. בושה, זעם ויגון:https://t.co/8EWryagVzi" (Tweet) (in Hebrew) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Former Israeli attorney general says Israel committing genocide in Gaza". Middle East Eye. 2025-07-29. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ Hasson, Nir (15 June 2021). "Former Attorney General Discovers Settler Group Took Over His Family's Sheikh Jarrah Home". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 2022-07-27. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
- ^ Blau, Uri (2021-06-15). "Sheikh Jarrah is just latest battle for Israeli who has spent 20 years fighting Arabs — and Jews — to "redeem land"". The Forward. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ Hasson, Nir. "Settlers seized an East Jerusalem home. They didn't know who they were messing with". Haaretz.com. Archived from the original on 2025-03-08. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
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