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Election 2026

The results of the 27 October vote

A portrait of Justice Salim Joubran

2004Society

Salim Joubran becomes the first Arab judge appointed permanently to Israel's Supreme Court.

He is appointed a permanent justice in May 2004, a year after he first joined the court on a temporary basis.

The story in numbers.

Here is how it happened.

  • 1968 to 1993

    He trains as a lawyer and then becomes a judge in Haifa.

    Born in Haifa in 1947, he earns a law degree in 1968 and practises privately from 1970 to 1982. He then sits on the Magistrate's Court and, from 1993, the District Court of Haifa.

    SourceUniversity of Haifa

  • 3 March 1999

    Abdel Rahman Zuabi takes a seat on the Supreme Court as its first Arab justice.

    He serves on a temporary appointment of nine months. A permanent seat for an Arab justice comes five years later.

    SourceJewish Virtual Library

  • 2003

    Joubran is appointed temporarily to the Supreme Court.

    He moves up from the Haifa District Court, where he served for 10 years. His field is criminal law, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.

    SourceJewish Virtual Library

  • A curved wall of pale stone with a tall narrow window, on a grassy slope under a blue sky

    May 2004

    Joubran is appointed a permanent justice of the Supreme Court.

    The University of Haifa calls him the first Arab judge to receive such an appointment. He had served on the court as an acting justice since 2003.

    SourceUniversity of Haifa

  • 2013 and 2017

    Joubran chairs the Central Elections Committee and becomes vice president.

    The Times of Israel says he chairs the committee from 2013, the first Arab to do so. On 12 June 2017 he is named vice president of the court, replacing Elyakim Rubinstein.

    SourceThe Times of Israel

1 of 5

Here is why it matters.

The first Arab justice on the court, in 1999, held a temporary nine-month appointment. Joubran's seat is permanent, and he serves until he retires in 2017.

Three more milestones to read next.

  • Members of the First Knesset in session in 1949, many with raised hands

    1949

    Arab citizens vote in Israel's first Knesset election.

    Read the story

  • David Ben-Gurion reading the Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv, beneath a portrait of Theodor Herzl

    1948

    The Declaration of Independence promises equal rights to all.

    Read the story

  • The Supreme Court building in Jerusalem, where the High Court of Justice sits

    2006

    Israel's High Court orders the state to register same-sex marriages performed abroad.

    Read the story

Where each fact was read.

Sources read on 1 November 2026.