Israeli jurist to serve as chief legal adviser to UN Security Council counter terrorism group

In a move certain to challenge existing anti-UN stereotypes, a senior Israeli jurist has been appointed to serve as the senior legal adviser and criminal justice coordinator of the UN Security Council’s main anti-terror body, the Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED).
Dr. David Scharia, a 43 year old Netanya-born Israeli with advanced degrees in law and philosophy from Tel Aviv University, will oversee the group’s team of international legal experts on counter terrorism and will be charged with formulating the Security Council’s legal policies on counter terrorism, implementing Security Council resolutions on combating terror and facilitating technical assistance to help UN members build their counter terror abilities.
For the past six years, Scharia has served as one of the CTED’s legal experts. Before that he was a senior deputy in the Supreme Court Division of the Israeli Attorney General and represented the State in numerous appearances before the Supreme Court in cases related to the fight against terror. Scharia also served as head of the Counter Terrorism internal investigations unity in the Israeli Ministry of Justice and as chairman of the Inter-ministerial Counter Terrorism Committee.
Peter Yeo, executive director of the Better World Campaign aimed at improving relations between the UN and the United States, congratulated Scharia on his appointment and said that he “has proven himself to be a leader in international counter terrorism efforts time and time again.”
Sources in New York said that Scharia’s appointment is sure to feature prominently in efforts to curtail drives in Congress to cut off U.S. funding for the UN. In many cases, such campaigns are based on popular perceptions of the UN’s well-known bias against Israel.
Scharia is the author of the book “The Supreme Court of Israel and the Fight Against Terrorism: from PM Rabin’s assassination to operation Cast Lead” published last year in Hebrew and to be published in English next year by Oxford University Press. He is also the author of an upcoming book “Wiretaps, Informants and Secret Agents: Maintaining the Rule of Law in the Prosecution of Terrorism” which will also be published by Oxford University Press.