Lauterpacht in Jerusalem
This is the first of two chapters to explore the theme voice underscoring Israel’s ambivalence towards the right of petition in the draft Human Rights Covenant: the right of individuals to present grievances before the United Nations. The chapter revisits Hersch Lauterpacht’s Jerusalem lecture, delivered on the occasion of the Hebrew University’s semi-jubilee. Lauterpacht’s ‘reproach’ of Israel’s cool attitude towards the right of petition is assessed against the backdrop of his own investment in Zionism and human rights, and in light of interwar Jewish experience with the right of petition. The chapter traces the involvement of Jacob Robinson and Nathan Feinberg, Dean of the Hebrew University Law Faculty and Lauterpacht’s host, in the Bernheim petition—and their resentment of the need of Jewish national institutions to approach the League of Nations through the confines of individual legal standing. These ideological sensibilities framed Jewish representation politics before and after Israel’s establishment.