Judge Aharon Barak announced, on Wednesday evening, his resignation from his position as Israel’s representative at the International Court of Justice “for personal and family reasons,” according to Hebrew media.
The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that Barak informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he had submitted his resignation from the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Aharon said in his letter to Netanyahu: “I announce my resignation for personal and family reasons. I thank you for your trust in me.”
According to the newspaper, Israel will now have to “decide whether to choose another judge instead of Aharon.” The newspaper quoted unnamed Israeli legal sources as saying, “It is not at all certain that another judge for the court in The Hague will be chosen to represent Israel,” noting that consultations will be held in this regard at the end of the week, according to the sources.
She said that if Israel chooses another judge, the possible candidates for this position are “the two former presidents of the Supreme Court (the highest judicial authority in Israel), Dorit Benish and Esther Hayut, and the former deputy president of the same court, Elyakim Rubinstein, because they are well-versed in international law.”
On May 24, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled by a majority of 13 judges to two (one of whom represented Israel Barak) that Israel must withdraw from Rafah and stop its military activities there, based on a request submitted by South Africa.
Barak is an Israeli jurist who previously worked as a judicial advisor to the Israeli government (1975-1978), and as President of the Supreme Court of Israel (1995-2006). Last January, Israel appointed Barak as a judge delegated by it to the International Court of Justice.
According to the laws of the International Court, any country that submits a complaint or against which a complaint is submitted can include a judge of its own, among the 15 permanent judges on the court.
It marks a significant shift.
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