Justice Moshe Landau (1912-2011)

Technion sadly laments the loss of Moshe Landau, an Honorary Chairman of its International Board of Governors and fifth president of the Supreme Court of Israel, who passed away at home in Jerusalem on May 1, 2011, aged 99. Gen. (res.) Amos Horev, chairman of the Israel Technion Society, describes Justice Landau, Technion’s longest-standing supporter, as the standard bearer of Technion and its Zionist values.

Landau was born in Danzig, Germany (today Gdansk, Poland) in April 1912. In 1933 he graduated cum laude from the University of London School of Law. That year, he immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine. In 1937 he was admitted to the Bar of Palestine and was the youngest ever to be appointed judge—at the age of 28. He served as judge in the Haifa Magistrate’s Court (from 1940) and was appointed to the District Court in 1948.

Moshe Landau was among the leading participants in the administrative reorganization and the writing of a new constitution for the Technion in the 1950s. He gave legal counsel and acted as informal consultant for many Technion presidents.

Justice Landau, whose demise coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, presided over the trial of Adolph Eichmann 50 years ago. In 1974, he was a member of the Agranat Commission, which investigated Israel’s lapses in the run-up to the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In addition, Landau was a member of the International Court of Justice, and served as chairman of the commission for recognition of “Righteous among the Nations” in Yad Vashem. In 1991, Landau received the Israel Prize for his many contributions to the field of law.


From 1956 to 1962, from 1965 to 1966, and from 1969 to 1971 Landau served as chairman of the Technion’s International Board of Governors. In 1980, he received an honorary doctorate from the Technion, and in 1996 he received the Technion Medal. From 1993 until his death, he was Honorary Chair of the Board.