Arye Segalson
Segalson was born in Lithuania in 1923. During the Holocaust he was in the Kovno Ghetto and then at the Dachau concentration camp. In 1946 he made aliyah and, after the Establishment of the State of Israel, he enlisted in IDF. His brother, Elhanan was killed in the War of Independence. In 1957 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of TA University and then for four years, ran his own law practice.
From 1973-81 he was a judge in the magistrates' court in Netanya; he was then appointed a judge in the district court in TA. He retired in September, 1993.
Judge Segalson, who won kudos for his judicial work, was a brilliant lawyer and a scholar. He was the lead judge in the trial of Al Mahmud Halabi from Gaza, sentencing him to seven life sentences plus forty years for the murder of seven people in 1989. In his summing up he wrote: "Has the time not yet come to sentence them to death? If I had the power, by law, without any reservations, I would sentence the accused to the death penalty." Three years earlier, a group of judges which he led sentenced the murderer of a young lad to life imprisonment plus twenty years. At that sentencing he also expressed his opinion that the accused was deserving of the death penalty.
In 1988, as a sole judge, he passed the heaviest sentence, up to that time, on people who threw rocks at civilian cars within Israel. He sentenced a 16-year old lad who was convicted of throwing rocks at a driver near Rishon Lezion to one and half years jail. He also sentenced Yair Levi, a former Shas MK, to imprisonment.
Segalson survived the Holocaust together with his father, brother and the former speaker of the Knesset, Dov Shilanski. When he was appointed a judge, Shilanski made him promise that "if a person is brought before you who has stolen some bread, do not send him to jail and remember that when we were both hungry in Dachau, we also stole bread."
His son-in-law, the mayor of Ramle eulogized him: "Aryeh passed away while the family was still sitting shiva after we lost his wonderful wife, Bracha, an Outstanding Citizen of Netanya. Aryeh was a legend in his lifetime, a courageous man who survived the Nazi machine; he stood up for his values, was compassionate and gregarious. That was his way with the people who appeared before him and with his grandchildren and family. Aryeh, of blessed memory, was beloved." Keren Lavi, his granddaughter said: "Grandpa was a warm, loving person. Despite his status, he treated everyone equally. He was a fervent supporter of Maccabi Netanya and even when he was a judge he used to sit with the team's supporters to encourage them."
Adv. Sheftel's interview with Judge Segalson on FM103
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