On video: The verdict of the court in The Hague/photo: Reuters
"Genocide is more than a pair of words for me," writes Aharon Barak in his only opinion within the framework of the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, in a document that, beyond being part of a legal ruling, is a shocking personal testimony.
"I was a 5-year-old boy when, as part of Operation Barbarossa, the German army occupied my hometown of Kovna in Lithuania," he writes, "within a few days, almost 30,000 Jews from Kovna were taken from their homes and placed in the ghetto. It was as if they were sentenced to death, and we await execution." , he goes on to say, "On October 26, 1941, all the Jews in the ghetto were ordered to gather in the central square, known as 'Democracy Square.' About 9,000 Jews were taken from the square that day, and executed by machine gun fire.
Aharon Barak at a hearing in The Hague, January 26, 2024/screenshot, Reuters
Barak opens his remarks by criticizing South Africa's application to the tribunal, which he says amounts to "an attempt to treat Kane's crime in vain".
He says that the tribunal rejected South Africa's main claim, and instead took measures reminding Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, alongside confirming Israel's right to defend itself, and emphasizing the importance of providing humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza.
The scope of the measures taken, says Barak, is "much narrower than what South Africa requested".
He notes that the court emphasized that "all parties in the conflict in the Gaza Strip are subject to international law - which certainly includes Hamas as well."
Barak explains in great detail why he opposes the demand for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and the definition of Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide", a concept that represents, according to him, "calculated destruction, and human behavior at its worst".
According to him, "This is the most serious accusation possible, and it is woven into the experience of my personal life."
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The judges in the judgment in The Hague, January 26, 2023/Reuters
Barak tells about his personal experiences as a Holocaust survivor.
"There was constant hunger in the crowded ghetto," he writes, "it was a community of people condemned to death, but in their hearts there was a spark of hope, and a desire to preserve their basic human dignity."
He recounts one of the particularly painful episodes in the history of the ghetto: "At the beginning of 1944, the Nazis rounded up all the children under the age of 12, loaded them onto trucks and shot them during the infamous 'Children's Action.' It was clear that I had to leave in order to survive. I was smuggled out of the ghetto in a sack and I was taken to a Lithuanian farmer. A few weeks later, my mother and I were transferred to another farmer. We had to be very secretive, so the farmer built double walls in one of the rooms. We hid in this narrow space until liberation by the Red Army on August 1, 1944. Only five percent of Lithuanian Jews survived ".
The former President of the Supreme Court details the impact of the Holocaust on his life and work: "I thought a lot about how this experience affected me as a judge. In my opinion, the effect was twofold: First, I am deeply aware of the importance of the existence of the State of Israel. If Israel had existed in 1939, it is possible that the fate of The Jewish people were different. Secondly, I am a great believer in human dignity. The Nazis and their helpers wanted to turn us into ashes and dust. They wanted to take away our dignity as human beings. But they failed. In the most difficult moments in the ghetto, we preserved our humanity. The Nazis succeeded in murdering many people from our people , but they failed to take our humanity."
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Aharon Barak
The International Court of Justice
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