Summary

There were three male justices at the trial of Adolph Eichmann. Moshe Landau, the presiding judge, set a tone of respect toward the defendant and did everything possible to keep the proceeding from turning into a show trial that Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion apparently hoped for.

Ben-Gurion did not attend any of the trial. Gideon Hausner, the Attorney General, represented the voice of Israel. However, Hausner may have fallen short of what Ben-Gurion expected because he had respect for the law and for the judicial process. The questions of outrage – why did the slaughter of Jews occur, what blame do allies have, why the Jews, why the Germans and many others – were not for this proceeding. Eichmann was on trial; not the suffering of the Jews. Hausner did his best to balance between a proper proceeding and the desires of...