Lebanese anti-Israeli judge elected new president of International Court of Justice

Originally published in allisraelnews

The International Court of Justice in The Hague elected a new president with a worrying past of anti-Israeli comments, the court announced on Tuesday.

Lebanese Judge Nawaf Salam was elected by his 14 peers to preside over the “World Court” for the next three years. Salam became a member of the court in 2018, after serving as his country’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York from 2007 to 2017.

As his vice-president, the judges selected Ugandan Julia Sebutinde, who was strongly criticized after she and Israel’s representative were the only dissenting voices in last month’s ICJ decision to order Israel to take several measures to ensure the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Salam supported each of the measures, while Sebutinde rejected all of them. Israeli justice Aharon Barak supported two measures aimed at increasing humanitarian aid to the population in Gaza.

In the wake of Salam’s election, Israeli media widely reported on his history of anti-Israeli comments he made on X, which are still openly accessible.

On June 5, 2015, Salam wrote “Unhappy birthday to you,” tagging Israel and noting “48 years of occupation” of Gaza and the West Bank.

Four months after that, he wrote “Israel must stop violence and end occupation.”

#Israel Occupation of #Gaza & the #WestBank. pic.twitter.com/rWdrMK0KHA

— Nawaf Salam نواف سلام (@nawafasalam) June 6, 2015

“When we criticize and condemn Israel it is never because of the Jewish character of the majority of its population,” he wrote in 2015, later adding that “Portraying the critics of Israel’s policies as antisemites is an attempt to intimidate and discredit them, which we reject.”

Also in 2015, he wrote, “Palestine’s full membership in UN and ending Israel’s occupation remain long overdue.”

Salam will now preside over the ongoing South African case alleging that Israel is carrying out a “genocide” in the war against the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Despite not specifically ordering Israel to stop the fighting, the ICJ ordered Israel to take five measures aimed at ensuring the rights of the Palestinian population and to submit a report about it in one month’s time.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Please help us to keep on publishing news that brings Hope in Jesus:

>> Donate  >> Become a Super Subscriber

VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/gatewaynews100

COMMENTING GUIDELINES
You are welcome to engage with our articles by making comments [in the Comments area below] that add value to a topic or to engage in thoughtful, constructive discussion with fellow readers. Comments that contain vulgar language will be removed. Hostile, demeaning, disrespectful, propagandistic and off-topic comments may also be moved. This is a Christian website and if you wish to vent against Christian beliefs you have probably come to the wrong place and your comments may be removed. Ongoing debates and repetitiveness will not be tolerated. You will also disqualify yourself from commenting if you engage in trolling.