Zamir, Itzchak

Itzchak Zamir was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1931 and immigrated to Israel with his parents at the age of three. Zamir completed an LLB and LLM at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, graduating in 1956. After an internship with Supreme Court Justice Yoel Zussman, Zamir went to the University of London to complete a JD, receiving his degree in 1959. Between 1959-1978 he served as a law professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and served as Dean of the Law Faculty from 1975-1978. In 1978 Zamir was appointed Attorney General and remained in that position until 1986. During this period, Zamir is remembered for demanding the investigation of the Shin Bet following the 300 Bus Affair, an episode in which two terrorists caught alive were secretly murdered by a Shin Bet officer. Between 1988-1991 Zamir served as president of the Israel Journalist Council. He resigned from that position because he said that he lacked authority to sanction journalists who violated the code of ethics. In 1991 Zamir was involved in founding the Law Faculty in Haifa University and served as its first dean for a year. He was appointed a Supreme Court Justice in 1994 and remained there until his retirement in 2001. Zamir received many prizes for his achievements, including the Israel Prize (1997) and the EMET prize (2014) for his academic accomplishments in Jurisprudence. Since his retirement, Zamir has served as head of the Jerusalem Center for Ethics.