Dov Levin

Who is Dov Levin?

Don Levin was an Israeli jurist and Supreme Court justice in the years 1982–1995.

Levin was born in Tel Aviv to Eliyahu and Dvora Levin, in a family of rabbis and scholars, descendants of the Vilna Gaon and residents of Israel since the mid-19th century. In 1943, he moved with his parents to Jerusalem, where he joined the Irgun while at the same time working at the British Mandate police headquarters. He also went to law school, and continued studying law upon his return to Tel Aviv in 1945.

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he served in the Israel Defense Forces as an officer in the Alexandroni Brigade's 35th Battalion. In the reserves, he served in the Adjutant Corps. In 1951 he was formally permitted to practice law and joined the Israel Bar Association, and in September 1966 became a judge. After becoming a judge, he also served in that capacity in the Military Court of Appeals as part of his reserve service. Levin was a judge in the Tel Aviv magistrate court until May 1972, when he was promoted to the district court. In 1979 he became vice-president of the court. In March 1981, he became a provisional Supreme Court justice and was given a permanent tenure on February 15, 1982. In 1988, he presided over a special court that judged John Demjanjuk and in the same year was responsible for disqualifying the Kach party from running for the Knesset.