Hadassa Ben-Itto
Encyclopedia
Hadassa Ben-Itto (born 16 May 1926, Brzeziny
, Poland
) is an Israeli author and jurist
. She is best known for her bestselling book The Lie That Wouldn't Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
in 1935, where another daughter, Nira, was born in 1937.
Ben-Itto graduated from the Ma'aleh religious high school in Jerusalem and was an officer in the Israeli army during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence
. She married Gershon Ben-Itto (born 1920) in 1950 and had a daughter, Orly, in 1957. The couple divorced in 1982.
After the War of Independence, Ben-Itto studied history, psychology and English literature
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
. She earned her law degree at Tel Aviv University
in 1954 and took post-graduate courses in law and criminology
at Northwestern University
of Chicago and the University of Denver
. She was admitted to the Israel Bar Association
1955. For the next five years, she worked as a lawyer in private practice, specializing in criminal law
.
Ben-Itto was appointed as a judge in Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court in 1960. In 1970 she moved to the Tel Aviv District Court. Between 1971 and 1974 she also taught criminal law at Bar-Ilan University
law school. While conducting a bank robbery trial in July 1980, she survived a bombing attack on her home, which may have been related to the trial. In 1980 she was appointed acting judge in the Israeli Supreme Court
, and in 1988 became deputy president of the Tel Aviv District Court. She took early retirement from the court in 1991 in order to write her book, The Lie That Wouldn't Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
in Israel convened by the Ministry of Justice
and a committee on patient rights convened by the Ministry of Health
. She was a member of committees dealing with prison reform
, probation
, and patient rights.
In 1965 and 1975 she was a member of Israel's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly
, holding the temporary rank of ambassador
. She also represented Israel at international events, including the 1982 UNESCO
Conference on Human Rights in Paris
.
From 1988 to 2004 Ben-Itto served as president of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
. In 2004 she was elected honorary president, as well as head of a committee to combat antisemitism.
From 1998 to 2002, Ben-Itto was one of the 17 international arbiters (and only woman) on the Claims Resolution Tribunal in Zurich
, which adjudicated claims against Swiss banks
on behalf of Jewish depositers killed in the Holocaust
.
She was the winner of the 1999 Zeltner Prize for outstanding Israeli jurists, and a 2003 citation of merit by the Israel Bar Association.
during her years on the bench, using her free time and court vacations to peruse the topic in footnoted academic studies. She found that not only was the subject little-known by Jews at large, but that historical and modern-day antisemitism draws from the Protocols. Desiring to write a book for the general public, she took early retirement in 1991 and spent six years writing The Lie That Wouldn't Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The book was published in Hebrew
in 1998 and has since been translated into nine languages, including German
, Russian
, Dutch
, Hungarian
, Romanian
, Bulgarian
, Spanish
, and English
.
With a flair for courtroom drama
, Ben-Itto's book centers around the 1934 trial in Bern, Switzerland
, where the local Jewish community took the local Nazi
party to court for publishing the Protocols. While the lower court judge ruled that the Protocols was a work of plagiarism
and constituted indecent literature, an appeals court threw out the claim of obsenity while agreeing with the lower court that the Protocols was "absolutely unjustified and outrageous insults and defamation". Ben-Itto then shows how the Protocols are still read and quoted today as a political treatise, even though various courts have declared it a forgery
.
.
Brzeziny
Brzeziny is a town in Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about 20 km east of Łódź. It is the capital of Brzeziny County. Population is 12,417 .- History :...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) is an Israeli author and jurist
Jurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
. She is best known for her bestselling book The Lie That Wouldn't Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Biography
Ben-Itto was born on 16 May 1926 in Brzeziny, Poland, to David Lipmanowicz (1904–1994) and Dvora Broder (1906–1988), both natives of Brzeziny. Her father worked as a building contractor. The family immigrated to PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in 1935, where another daughter, Nira, was born in 1937.
Ben-Itto graduated from the Ma'aleh religious high school in Jerusalem and was an officer in the Israeli army during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
. She married Gershon Ben-Itto (born 1920) in 1950 and had a daughter, Orly, in 1957. The couple divorced in 1982.
After the War of Independence, Ben-Itto studied history, psychology and English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
. She earned her law degree at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
in 1954 and took post-graduate courses in law and criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
of Chicago and the University of Denver
University of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
. She was admitted to the Israel Bar Association
Israel Bar Association
The Israel Bar Association is the bar association for all Israeli lawyers.The Israel Bar is organized as a corporation, with a Central Committee, a National Assembly and five districts. Membership is mandatory for lawyers licensed in Israel. The top positions are filled by elections held every...
1955. For the next five years, she worked as a lawyer in private practice, specializing in criminal law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
.
Ben-Itto was appointed as a judge in Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court in 1960. In 1970 she moved to the Tel Aviv District Court. Between 1971 and 1974 she also taught criminal law at Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...
law school. While conducting a bank robbery trial in July 1980, she survived a bombing attack on her home, which may have been related to the trial. In 1980 she was appointed acting judge in the Israeli Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
, and in 1988 became deputy president of the Tel Aviv District Court. She took early retirement from the court in 1991 in order to write her book, The Lie That Wouldn't Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Committees and commissions
During her tenure as a judge, Ben-Itto was appointed to head several government committees, including a committee on prostitutionProstitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
in Israel convened by the Ministry of Justice
Justice Minister of Israel
The Justice Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Justice and a position in the Israeli cabinet. The current minister is Ya'akov Ne'eman, an independent who is not a member of the Knesset....
and a committee on patient rights convened by the Ministry of Health
Health Minister of Israel
The Ministry of Health is a ministry in the Israeli government. The current Minister of Health is Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud.There is occasionally a Deputy Minister of Health...
. She was a member of committees dealing with prison reform
Prison reform
Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, aiming at a more effective penal system.-History:Prisons have only been used as the primary punishment for criminal acts in the last couple of centuries...
, probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
, and patient rights.
In 1965 and 1975 she was a member of Israel's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
, holding the temporary rank of ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
. She also represented Israel at international events, including the 1982 UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Conference on Human Rights in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
From 1988 to 2004 Ben-Itto served as president of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists strives to advance human rights everywhere, including the prevention of war crimes, the punishment of war criminals, the prohibition of weapons of mass destruction, and international co-operation based on the rule of law and the fair...
. In 2004 she was elected honorary president, as well as head of a committee to combat antisemitism.
From 1998 to 2002, Ben-Itto was one of the 17 international arbiters (and only woman) on the Claims Resolution Tribunal in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, which adjudicated claims against Swiss banks
World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks
The World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks was launched to retrieve deposits made by victims of Nazi persecution during and prior to World War II.-Negotiations:...
on behalf of Jewish depositers killed in the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
.
She was the winner of the 1999 Zeltner Prize for outstanding Israeli jurists, and a 2003 citation of merit by the Israel Bar Association.
The Lie That Wouldn't Die
Ben-Itto began to research The Protocols of the Elders of ZionThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fraudulent, antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for achieving global domination. It was first published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the twentieth century...
during her years on the bench, using her free time and court vacations to peruse the topic in footnoted academic studies. She found that not only was the subject little-known by Jews at large, but that historical and modern-day antisemitism draws from the Protocols. Desiring to write a book for the general public, she took early retirement in 1991 and spent six years writing The Lie That Wouldn't Die: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The book was published in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
in 1998 and has since been translated into nine languages, including German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
, Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
With a flair for courtroom drama
Legal drama
A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...
, Ben-Itto's book centers around the 1934 trial in Bern, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, where the local Jewish community took the local Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
party to court for publishing the Protocols. While the lower court judge ruled that the Protocols was a work of plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
and constituted indecent literature, an appeals court threw out the claim of obsenity while agreeing with the lower court that the Protocols was "absolutely unjustified and outrageous insults and defamation". Ben-Itto then shows how the Protocols are still read and quoted today as a political treatise, even though various courts have declared it a forgery
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
.
Current activities
Since the publication of her book, Ben-Itto frequently speaks and writes about the relationship between antisemitism and current events, such as the 2006 Lebanon War and the Arab world protests of 2010–2011Arab Spring
The Arab Spring , otherwise known as the Arab Awakening, is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010...
.