Israeli Ad Hoc Judge in The Hague Steps Down as Netanyahu Mulls Replacement

Jerusalem, 6 June, 2024 (TPS) -- Retired Israeli Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak said on Wednesday he is stepping down from his position as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice. He served as a member of a 15-judge panel hearing a South African petition accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza.

Barak, 87, cited “personal family reasons” in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Countries involved in cases being heard by the ICJ are allowed to appoint an ad hoc judge to the panel if no judge of its nationality is serving. Israel will be allowed to appoint a judge to replace Barak. Speculation has centered on retired Israeli Supreme Court Justices Esther Hayut and Dorit Beinisch. Both, like Barak, served as President of the court.

The choice of Barak to serve as Israel’s ad hoc ICJ panelist met with mixed reactions from government members as he led Israel’s “constitutional revolution” in the 1990s — in the eyes of Israel’s political right, a power grab that led to a decades-long expansion of the court’s power.

South Africa petitioned the ICJ in December to issue an immediate injunction against army operations, claiming Israel is committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people. Israel accused South Africa of “distorting the truth,” “abusing court procedures,” and seeking to assist Hamas for political reasons. The Israeli delegation also accused South Africa of trying to get the ICJ to “micromanage” the war.

In a provisional ruling issued on January 26, the ICJ ordered Israel by a vote of 15-2 to “take all measures” to prevent “genocide” in Gaza, but did not order the implementation of a ceasefire.

But in May, South Africa asked the court to order an emergency injunction against Israeli military operations in Rafah. The court responded with an ambiguously worded ruling which Israeli officials said did not rule out activities against Hamas in the southern Gaza city. Military activities against Hamas tunnels, rocket launching sites, weapons facilities and terror squads have continued.

Meanwhile, Israeli leaders are bracing for the possibility that the International Criminal Court, a separate court also based in The Hague, will approve Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif.

A three-judge panel will rule on Khan’s request, but it isn’t clear when.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 120 remaining hostages, more than 30 are believed dead.