The former president of the Supreme Court and the judge on behalf of Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Aharon Barak, spoke today (Friday) in an interview with News 12 about his experience on the judicial team in the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip, and about the fact that he is not in contact with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “He’s not on the phone and it’s a good thing.”
“Until now, I have never refused to serve the state by being a judge, but serving the state does not mean that I am its representative and that I am given instructions,” Barak said. “I did not have any discussion with the Israeli executive authority or with the Prime Minister, or with Minister Ron Dermer who contacted me. I also did not speak with the Israeli representation in The Hague. I sit and judge as I used to do.”
Aharon Barak
The judge also noted that “no one contacted me and it would be nice if he didn’t talk to me. If Netanyahu had called, I would have told him, ‘Sir, I can’t talk to you.’ But he won’t do that, he knows I won’t talk to him.”
The veteran judge said that the last time he visited The Hague was about a month ago, when South Africa demanded that an order be issued preventing the IDF from operating in Rafah. “I am going there tomorrow due to South Africa’s repeated demand to prevent a war in Rafah because of the hunger that exists in all of Gaza,” he added.
Barak said about his judicial experience in The Hague: “The president is now Lebanese. I think he does his job with faith and so do the other judges. I know some of them personally. One of the judges even handed me my book that was translated into his language and asked me to sign it for him. There are judges sitting in a court , each of whom was proposed by his country and I was also proposed by the State of Israel, but none of them is a representative of his country.”
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