131 Years Later, Alfred Dreyfus Relative Reaches Same Rank in IDF

Uriel Dreyfus, a military court judge in Judea and Samaria, was promoted last week to lieutenant colonel in a ceremony led by Military Court of Appeals President Maj. Gen. Orly Markman, 131 years after his relative, French Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus, was stripped of the same rank in a public degradation ceremony.

Uriel Dreyfus serves as a reserve judge in the military courts and was among several judges promoted. In remarks at the ceremony, he compared the events in France in 1895, when Alfred Dreyfus was falsely convicted of treason, his insignia torn off and his sword broken before a hostile crowd.

“In a humiliating ceremony, in front of the crowds, his sword was broken. He was accused of treason he did not commit, simply because he was Jewish. He was sent to Devil's Island, the place where hope was supposed to die. But he did not break. He continued to cry out his innocence,” Dreyfus said.

He said the legacy of the Dreyfus Affair has accompanied him throughout his military service.

“When I entered the gates of the IDF as a young soldier, I carried this memory with me. I understood that every rank I would receive, every step I would take in the army, would constitute a historical correction. Today, as I receive the rank of lieutenant colonel, I feel that the ranks that were then torn in disgrace are now being proudly sewn anew, on the olive green uniform of the Israel Defense Forces and within the system of belief in the administration of justice in the sovereign Jewish state.”

The Dreyfus Affair became one of the most prominent cases of antisemitism in modern Europe and influenced early Zionist thought. Alfred Dreyfus’s conviction was later overturned after a prolonged legal battle. In November, France posthumously promoted him to brigadier general.

Dreyfus also referred to the current war and the impact of the October 7 attacks.

“The last few years have been the hardest in our lives. We have lost friends, subordinates, and commanders. In this pain, we must remember the determination of those who came before us. We will survive and win the battles because we have no other country and no other army.”

He described the role of the military courts as central to Israel’s legal system.

“Our role in the Courts Unit is sometimes transparent to the public eye, but it constitutes the backbone of Israeli democracy,” he said. “We, my fellow judges and I, defend the place where words are mightier than bullets, and where truth is the supreme commander. This is our professional commitment, and this is our moral mission.”