Attorney General Menachem Mazuz says that Israel's military court is a "separate and independent system" that should be considered a foreign entity that falls under international law.
Mazuz made the statement in a brief filed in Supreme Court on Wednesday in the case of the 2000 murder of an IDF reserve soldier.
A NIS 65 million (approx. $17 million) lawsuit was filed against the Palestinian Authority by the family of Vadim Norzich two months after he and his fellow soldier were lynched in Ramallah by a mob of Palestinian Authority Arabs. The two had taken a wrong turn in their jeep and entered the area by mistake.
The family is being represented by attorney Nitzana Darshan Leitner. Sixteen PA Arabs were convicted for their parts in the murder, some receiving sentences of life in prison, but not all. Leitner had submitted the verdicts as evidence in the case, which was first heard in the district court, despite objections by the attorney for the PA, Yossef Arnon, who appealed to the Supreme Court.
Judge Moshe Drori, ruling in the district court, had allowed the verdicts to be submitted as evidence. He said the laws of the military courts in Judea and Samaria are identical to those of the state's criminal courts.
On the appeal, the Supreme Court asked Mazuz for an opinion on the matter.
The brief filed by the attorney general stated that the IDF military tribunal does not operate according to Israeli law. Mazuz emphasized that the professionalism, credibility or decency of the military judges was not the issue -- however, he added, their appointment by local IDF commanders takes place through a process separate from that designated under Israeli law.
"The conclusion that arises is that the military court system is a separate and independent system," Mazuz wrote. "Israeli law does not apply to it directly and does not give it authority. Therefore, the military court is actually a foreign court in this case."
Judge Drori, who is a religious Jew, has reportedly been targeted by a number of people in the justice system – including Supreme Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch.
Environment Minister Gideon Erdan, a member of the Committee to Select Judges, retracted his backing for Drori's candidacy to become a Supreme Court judge due to a controversial ruling he made in 2006.
Last month, a Supreme Court justice overturned his acquittal of a rabbinical student charged in a hit-and-run accident involving an Ethiopian cashier. Drori, whose name was on a list of candidates for a judgeship on the Supreme Court, was effectively removed as a potential contender by the action.