Israel has decided to appoint Prof. Ron Shapira, rector of the Peres Academic Center, to replace Aharon Barak at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Barak represented Israel in the hearings of the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel on the grounds that it is committing “war crimes” in Gaza. He stepped down from that role last month, citing personal and family reasons.
In a past interview with Arutz Sheva-Israel National News, Prof. Shapira commented on the judicial reform and said that "Israel certainly needs some kind of reform in the legal system. I think there is a consensus on this matter and few people think that the current situation should remain as it is."
He added, "The judicial selection committee that we have is the same committee and operates with the same tools both with regard to the Supreme Court and other courts. The problem is that all our courts are constitutional. If tomorrow a certain law is not good, for example, in the eyes of a certain rabbinical court, it may declare that the law is void. Therefore, we have a situation in which a judge, who is in this respect above the legislator and can act by virtue of the same constitution enacted by people who are also the legislator, even though he is not elected by the public and not by elected officials, but by a body which also has elected officials but is not under the control of the political system."
In this regard, Shapira thought that the solution proposed in the reform was appropriate. "The judicial reform will change this situation and establish that a law can only be repealed in the Supreme Court and only by a qualified majority, and that the selection of judges will be more in the format accepted in the Western world."