Israel’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that newly appointed Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s term as president of the International Court of Justice in the Hague offered a “rare glimpse” into the bias of “international law institutions.”
“The president of the ICJ, just appointed prime minister of Lebanon, has called Israel an enemy. This is the president of a court presiding over a case related to Israel—someone who is supposed to remain impartial and neutral. Yet, he refers to Israel as an enemy,” tweeted Gideon Sa’ar.
The ICJ is hearing a case in which Israel is accused of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. The case, filed by South Africa on Dec. 29, 2023, alleges violations by Israel of its obligations under the Genocide Convention regarding Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“How can such a person be expected to judge Israel fairly? President Salam’s decisions regarding Israel must be disqualified immediately. Otherwise they might as well take the ‘J’ out of the ICJ,” he said.
Salam, currently serving as the president of the ICJ, was asked by the new president of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to form a Lebanese government on Tuesday after Salam was elected by a majority of legislators.
Salam’s election angered Hezbollah legislators, AP reported.
In 2007, he became Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Nations, where he served for 10 years. In 2018, he was elected to the bench of the ICJ and in February last year he was elected president of the court.
In July 2024, U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based watchdog group, noted that as Lebanon’s U.N. ambassador, Salam voted 210 times to denounce the Jewish state, and delivered inflammatory speeches accusing “terrorist Jewish organizations” of committing “organized massacres.”