Israel's Chief Justice Eulogises Beersheba's Benny Sagi

The President of Israel’s Supreme Court delivered the eulogy for Judge Benny Sagi, president of the District Court in Beersheba, in an address released by the courts. It opened with an admission of disbelief: that the speaker was standing there and could not accept that a life had been cut short so suddenly, and that the words on the page had been carved out of shock and pain shared by the whole system.

The eulogy described a judge appointed to the bench young who rose to lead a district court, arriving early each morning at the courthouse (first in Tel Aviv, then in Beersheba) to sit and do justice without headlines or fanfare. It singled out the long, concentrated hearing days that were his hallmark, calling them a lesson in criminal law and in human understanding, and said he was an expert in the delicate seams between law and life. It described a man of unusual physical and personal stature, liked by judges, staff, lawyers and defendants alike, and it recorded a rare closeness between Sagi and the Director of the Courts, Judge Tzachi Uziel, a friendship that began during their internships. The address quoted Sagi’s own writing on the job.

A judge who does his work faithfully is a judge who enters the courtroom with knowledge, the ability to listen, openness to be persuaded, and a clear understanding that he too might err in his ruling.

It closed by addressing his parents, his sisters, his wife Yael and his children, saying no words would be adequate comfort, and by promising that he would not be forgotten.

The court he led, and where it sits

Israel’s civil court system has three tiers. Magistrates’ courts, of which there are about 30, handle lesser criminal and civil matters. Above them sit six district courts, one for each district of the country, which try serious criminal cases and larger civil disputes, hear appeals from the magistrates’ courts and rule on administrative petitions, usually with a single judge but with panels of three for grave felonies and appeals. At the top is the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, which is both the final court of appeal and, sitting as the High Court of Justice, a court of first instance for challenges to the legality of state action, according to a description of the system’s structure. Presiding over one of those six district courts, as Sagi did in Beersheba, means running the bench for the whole of southern Israel as well as sitting on cases.

Who speaks for the judiciary

The office that delivered this eulogy, President of the Supreme Court, is held by Isaac Amit, who described Sagi in near-identical terms in remarks reported at the time: a great man with a massive heart, a judge who was extraordinarily talented, the Times of Israel reported on 4 January 2026. President Isaac Herzog called Sagi a brilliant and sharp jurist who combined professional knowledge with extraordinary honesty, and Justice Minister Yariv Levin called him an exceptional judge respected by lawyers and litigants alike, the same outlet reported. The scale of the response is a reminder that a district court presidency in Israel is a national office, not a local one.

What the eulogy did not say

The address, as published, does not describe how Sagi died; it refers only to the previous day. The Times of Israel reported on 4 January 2026 that he was killed when a vehicle that had been driving off-road came onto Route 6 and struck the motorcycle he was riding, and that he was pronounced dead at the scene. The courts’ text also gave no details of the funeral, said nothing about who would take over the Beersheba court, and did not list the cases he had been hearing.