Supreme Court Sides With ZAKA Legal Affairs Unit - The Project Dignity Of Deceased After Fatal Jerusalem Nursery Tragedy

Immediately after the incident, as authorities began to investigate the fatalities, ZAKA’s Legal Affairs Unit was asked by the families to provide legal guidance and representation. From the outset, the unit ensured that investigative procedures would respect Kavod HaMeit, the obligation to preserve the dignity of the deceased.

When the Israel Police and State Attorney’s Office petitioned the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court for full invasive autopsies, ZAKA’s Legal Unit made the case to the court that preliminary medical assessments already indicated the likely cause of death and should be accepted in lieu of invasive procedures.

Despite this, the Magistrate’s Court approved the autopsies. Within hours, ZAKA filed an urgent appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court, exhausting every legal avenue to preserve Kavod HaMeit.

At the Supreme Court hearing, ZAKA’s team, led by volunteer Attorney Dror Shosheim and Legal Affairs Unit Coordinator Michael Gutwein, presented an alternative framework balancing investigative needs with human dignity. The high court overturned the lower court ruling, ordering no autopsies be completed and emphasizing the importance of preserving the infants’ dignity while releasing their bodies for burial.

“This decision reflects not only religious law and legal reasoning, but human sensitivity,” said ZAKA’s Legal Affairs Unit Coordinator Michael Gutwein. “Our role is to stand beside families at the most painful moment of their lives and ensure that their children are treated with respect and care, even after death.”

Throughout the process, ZAKA coordinated with rabbinic authorities and forensic professionals, including Rabbi Asher Landau and the staff at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine, exploring non-invasive investigative alternatives. The Legal Affairs Unit also guided families through the legal system, explaining proceedings and ensuring their voices were heard.

“ZAKA exists to protect dignity where it is most vulnerable,” said ZAKA CEO Dubi Weissenstern. “Our Legal Affairs Unit ensures that even in the most sensitive and complex investigations, families are not left alone and dignity is preserved.”

“Our Legal Affairs Unit is a critical tool in ZAKA’s holy work of Kavod HaMeit,” added ZAKA U.S. Executive Director Moshe Rozenberg. “In this case our incredible volunteers, who are attorneys who have dedicated themselves and volunteered their time to stand by families in their darkest hours, were able to prove to the court that the tools exist to bridge both investigative needs and preserving the dignity of the deceased.”

Founded to honor the dead in accordance with religious tradition, ZAKA has evolved into a full-scale emergency response network, with over 4,000 trained volunteers operating 24/7 across Israel to honor the dead, aid the living and bring dignity in times of devastation. Today, it operates a wide range of units – from rapid medical response and search and rescue to water recovery to culturally sensitive burial teams serving Israel’s Jewish, Bedouin, Arab and Druze communities to international units deploying at a moment’s notice to crises across the globe.

For more information, visit: https://zakaworld.org/.