Israel picks Holocaust survivor judge for genocide case, surprising some

Jerusalem: As Israel prepares this week to face accusations at the International Court of Justice that it has committed genocide in the war with Hamas, it has appointed one of the country’s most prominent jurists as the ad hoc judge to sit on the bench on its behalf.

The choice of Aharon Barak, a retired Israeli Supreme Court president who fled Nazi-occupied Lithuania as a boy, was immediately praised by many Israelis after it was announced Sunday — and greeted with surprise and even criticism by others.

While Barak, 87, is an internationally respected legal authority, he has also been at the center of a deeply polarizing domestic legal furor over the past year. He was vocal in his opposition to the right-wing government’s judicial overhaul plan, which is aimed at curbing the powers of the court. Barak, who had long been a symbol of judicial overreach for those who wanted to rein in the court, encouraged the nationwide protests against the plan.

Simcha Rothman, a right-wing Israeli legislator and a driving force behind the judicial overhaul efforts, responded curtly to the appointment in a social media post with the words: “My resounding silence.”

The International Court of Justice in The Hague, the highest legal body of the United Nations, hears disputes between states. To hear the Gaza case, which was brought by South Africa, its regular 15-judge panel will be expanded to 17, with one additional judge appointed by each side.

Both South Africa and Israel signed the 1948 Genocide Convention, and South Africa is accusing Israel of violating that agreement. South Africa accused Israel last month of trying to “destroy Palestinians in Gaza” as it pummels the enclave in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel led by Hamas.

The Israeli government has rejected South Africa’s allegations as a “blood libel” lacking any factual or legal basis, and has described the case as a “despicable and contemptuous exploitation” of the court.

The first hearings are scheduled to take place Thursday and Friday. As an emergency measure, South Africa is asking for an immediate halt to the Israeli offensive. But final rulings by the court can take years.

Barak’s appointment to hear a case about genocide has a particular resonance because he is a Holocaust survivor. Born in 1936 in Lithuania, he was as a boy smuggled in a sack out of the ghetto in his Nazi-occupied hometown, Kovno, which is now called Kaunas. He emigrated with his parents to Palestine in 1947, the year before the founding of Israel.

After serving as Israel’s attorney general and a negotiator in the 1978 Camp David peace talks with Egypt, Barak was appointed to Israel’s Supreme Court and went on to serve as its president until his retirement in 2006.

Many of his legal decisions, particularly those pertaining to terrorism and security, were widely considered groundbreaking, according to analysts, and crucial to the international prestige afforded to Israel’s top court. One example was a ruling he led as chief justice in 1999 that banned most uses of torture by the security services to obtain information from suspected terrorists.

Amichai Cohen, a law professor and head of a program on national security and law at the Israel Democracy Institute, an independent research group, said the appointment of Barak was notable for two reasons.

“First of all, the appointment shows that Israel is taking the process seriously and doing what it can to succeed in it and not fail,” he said.

“The second point is the man, of course,” Cohen added.

Barak’s vilification by right-wing supporters of the government’s judicial overhaul plan only strengthens his status and credibility as a judge who will rule objectively, based on the law, Cohen said.

“It shows that he is an independent figure who is not an emissary of the Israeli government,” he said.