{{short description|Former President of the Supreme Court of Israel}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Shimon Agranat | office = President of the Supreme Court of Israel | image = Shimon Agranat 1976.jpg | caption = Agranat in 1976 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|09|05}} | birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky, United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|1992|08|10|1906|09|05}} | term_start = 1965 | term_end = 1976 | predecessor = Yitzhak Olshan | successor = Yoel Zussman | alma_mater = University of Chicago | awards = Israel Prize | death_place = Jerusalem, Israel | native_name = שמעון אגרנט | native_name_lang = he | signature = Shimon_Agranat_Signature_from_the_Goldman_Collection.png }} '''Shimon Agranat''' ({{langx|he|שמעון אגרנט}}; September 5, 1906 – August 10, 1992) was an Israeli jurist and the third President of the Supreme Court of Israel, from 1965 until 1976.
==Biography== Agranat was born to a Jewish-Zionist family in Louisville, Kentucky in 1906. His parents, Aaron Joseph Agranat and Polya Schnitzer, had immigrated to the United States from Russia shortly before his birth. Agranat grew up in Chicago and attended Jewish schools. He studied law and philosophy at the University of Chicago, and graduated with a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1929. He emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1930 and settled in Haifa.
Agranat spoke Hebrew, with a strong American accent.<ref>{{Cite news|date=12 August 1992|title=Shimon Agranat, Dead at 86, Was Prominent Israeli Jurist|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|url=https://www.jta.org/1992/08/12/archive/shimon-agranat-dead-at-86-was-prominent-israeli-jurist|access-date=21 April 2021}}</ref>
Agranat was married to Carmel Friedlander, the daughter of Israel Friedlander and niece of Norman Bentwich. The couple lived in Nayot, Jerusalem,<ref name="american">''Batei Tzioney America'', Kol Ha'ir, Ruth Yovel, July 3, 1987 (Hebrew)</ref> and had five children.
Agranat died in Jerusalem on August 10, 1992.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Finklestone|first=Joseph|date=17 August 1992|title=Obituary: Shimon Agranat|work=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-shimon-agranat-1541030.html|access-date=21 April 2021}}</ref>
==Judicial career== In April 1932, Agranat was certified as a lawyer in Palestine. After completing an internship in Jerusalem, he worked as a private lawyer. In 1940, he was appointed a judge on the Haifa Magistrate's Court. In 1948, he became President of the Haifa District Court.
In December 1948, Agranat was appointed to the Israeli Supreme Court at age 42, becoming one of the world's youngest Supreme Court justices.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Judgement in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century|last=Lahav|first=Pnina |author-link=Pnina Lahav|publisher=University of California Press|year=1997 |isbn=0-520-20595-2}}</ref> He presided over the Court in the Kastner trial in 1958. From 1954 to 1966, while continuing to serve on the Supreme Court, he was a visiting professor of Criminal Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was appointed President of the Supreme Court in 1965, and served in this position until 1976, retiring at the age of 70.
In 1974, he headed the Agranat Commission, which investigated the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The findings of this commission led to the resignation of Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, and IDF Chief of Staff David Elazar.<ref name="The Frying Pan and the Fire">[http://www.eretz.com/NEW/survey16.shtml The Frying Pan and the Fire]</ref>
Following his retirement, he taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/12/obituaries/simon-agranat-dead-senior-israeli-jurist-86.html | work=The New York Times | title=Simon Agranat Dead; Senior Israeli Jurist, 86 | date=August 12, 1992}}</ref>
==Awards and commemoration== thumb|Agranat Plaza in 2011 In 1968, Agranat was awarded the Israel Prize for his contribution to Israeli jurisprudence.<ref name=prize>{{Cite web| title = Israel Prize Official Site - Recipients in 1968 (in Hebrew)| url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashkag/Tashlab_Tashkag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashkah}}</ref>
A plaza at the entrance to the Israeli Supreme Court<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lawofisrael.com/israeli-supreme-court-decisions/ |title=Israeli Supreme Court decisions search - Israeli Lawyers | Israeli Law Firm Golan & Co |access-date=2014-05-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505060543/http://www.lawofisrael.com/israeli-supreme-court-decisions/ |archive-date=2014-05-05 }} free decisions database</ref> is named after Agranat.<ref name="The Frying Pan and the Fire" />
==See also== *List of Israel Prize recipients
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Presidents of the Supreme Court of Israel}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agranat, Shimon}} Category:1906 births Category:1992 deaths Category:American emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:20th-century Israeli judges Category:Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Israel Category:Israel Prize in law recipients Category:Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Jews from Mandatory Palestine Category:University of Chicago Law School alumni Category:20th-century American Jews Category:Lawyers from Jerusalem Category:Immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah