A shondeh* in Israel

[I]t wasn’t a victory for common sense; it was a victory for the warped message that suspected terrorists have no right to a legal defense. The expectation is apparently that lawyers should refuse to represent them, and anyone who does represent them isn’t a worthy candidate for any public position. Even though [Asher] Axelrod admitted that there was nothing new about [Lea] Tsemel’s appointment to the post, which she has held for the past eight and a half years, in the end he capitulated to pressure from right-wing organizations and members of bereaved families and froze it.

The pain of the bereaved families’ is understandable. But acquiescing to the demand born of this pain by undermining the right to a fair trial, a foundational principle of the justice system, is unacceptable. Axelrod must reverse himself and confirm Tsemel’s appointment.

From this Haaretz editorial about the scuttled reappointment of Lea Tsemel to head the military law committee of the Israel Bar's Jerusalem chapter.

* Disgrace; embarrassment. (Accent on the first syllable: SHON'-deh.)