Israel: Former Supreme Court President "Stop Boycotting International Criminal Court"

Speaking at a legal conference in Jerusalem, Israel's Former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak said that Israel should stop boycotting the International Criminal Court. Barak claimed that Israel will benefit from its participation in the court despite the risk that its soldiers, military officers and politicians may be brought to trial: "Israel is part of the international community, and it must conduct itself in accordance with the interpretation that is common in international law."

In 2000, Israel signed the Rome Statute which established the International Criminal Court, but the signature was never ratified by the Knesset.

Israel: Goldstone’s Return — Economic Sanctions on Tel Aviv?

Haaretz added to Barak's words:

A country that believes in the morality of its actions and those of its soldiers should not behave like a permanent suspect and boycott institutions of international law. On the contrary: It must fight within those institutions for its positions and justice. Joining the International Criminal Court at The Hague will place Israel on the side of the enlightened nations, and will contribute to restraining forceful and harmful actions. Barak's recommendation deserves to be adopted.

Comments

[Barry]

Ho Hum!

Has anybody noticed that the articles that Ali Yenidunya writes for EA do not receive much comment?? or interest?

Barry

[Jim Richardson]

If Israel did start participating in the ICC, might that encourage the US to do so too?

[Catherine]

@ Barry,
Yes, I read almost all of Ali Yenidunya's articles and have noticed the same as you. I ascribe it to a lack of interest in the subject on the part of readers who are much more engaged in the current events in Iran. I think some of us are also just not interested in a conflict that no one has been able to resolve in the last 60 years.

On the other hand, anything about Gaza, the Goldstone report, alternate voices in Israel such as Aharon Barak saying that Israel should stop boycotting the International Criminal Court, and all exploits of the brave members of Israeli human rights defenders B'Tselem (http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp) will always get my immediate attention.

I don't think Israel or the US becoming members of the ICC is something we'll see in the near future, but if the UN General Assembly starts up some economic sanctions against Israel, that might be enough to bring some changes to their apartheid-like policies towards Palestinians or induce real limitations on settlement building, not just freezes in certain areas. They are already freaked out enough by the Goldstone report and the dangers some of them they currently face just by travelling to the UK!

[Dave]

This Goldstone Report was funded by OIC members. They don't care about the welfare of Gazans. Where is Hamas in the Report? It is purely political and the Arab world is just condemning the Gaza war to hit back at Israel. They don't care about human rights and the ICC. They make a mochery of impartiality for both. Their actions at the Doha summit spoke volumes...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/31/AR2009033103148.html

[Dave]

Some people may choose not to comment on Ali's new reports, but I'm sure many do read them. I read his reports daily. EA is my main source for news in the region.

[Mike Dunn]

Plenty of people read Ali's posts actually, I have the stats in front of me. Don't forget that Ali's posts are intended as short news updates about the region rather than Scott's longer Iran pieces (many of which are regularly added to throughout the day).

And surely you're not basing the importance of a story on how much comment and interest it receives Barry?

[Barry]

Mike

Having been a user of the Internet for a long long long time - I do believe there is some correlation between comments from readers in an open Forum, and interest/controversy/opinions in a subject matter expressed in the Forum. That is essentially what Forums are for - the number of "hits' or supposed "reads" of an item is not particularly important.

Barry