Biography
Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer is Vice President of Research at IDI, where he heads the projects "Constitutional Principles and Their Implementation," "National Security and Democracy," and "Political Corruption in Israel." He is the Bruce W.Wayne Professor of Criminal Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he teaches Criminal Law and Constitutional Law, and was formerly Dean of the Faculty. He has been a Senior Fellow at IDI Since 1994.
Born in Fuert, Germany, Prof. Kremnitzer studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, from which he received his PhD in 1980. He has published extensively in the fields of criminal, military, and public law, and is co-author of the proposal for a new general part of the penal code for Israel (a proposal which has been adopted by the Knesset). His books, in Hebrew, deal with judicial activism; Israel's Basic Law: The Army; the offence of sedition, libel, official secrets, revocation of citizenship, disqualification of parties and lists, targeted killings, offences against the state, and the offence of breach of trust.
Prof. Kremnitzer has advised the governments of Canada, Hungary and Finland on reform and legislation, and has been a visiting professor and researcher at The Max Planck Institute for comparative and international criminal law in Freiburg, Tulane University in the US, the Central European University in Budapest, Mcgill University in Montreal, and the institute for advanced studied of Berlin. He has served as chairman of many public committees, including a committee nominated by the Minister of Police on the use of force by the police (1994); a committee appointed by the Minister of Education on Education Towards Good Citizenship (1996); and a committee nominated by the Minster of Finance and the Minister of Justice to examine methods to deal with offences and misconduct of public employees (1998). Professor Kremnitzer was appointed chairperson of the Israeli Association of Public Law in 2002. He served as President of the Israeli Press Council (2000-2003) and as the academic head of the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University (2001-2003).
Awards and Distinction:
- The Pinchas Rozen award for legal research (1989)
- "Knight of Quality Government" of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (1999)
- The Zeltner Prize for excellence in research (2003)
- The Humboldt Research Award (2009)
- Honorary doctorate from the University of Lucerne (2009)
- Honorary Fellow, The Open University (2010)
In 1999, Prof. Kremnitzer was given the honor of lighting one of the torches at the ceremony opening Israeli Indepence day at Mount Herzl.
Tel: 02-530-0883
email: motak@idi.org.il