Former Israeli Supreme Court President Aharon Barak: Jews Want To Throw Arabs into the Sea

Aharon Barak, the former Supreme Court president, publicly announced his support for an Israeli democratic state where Jews and Arabs enjoy equal human rights.  He highlighted the contradictory mindset of many Israelis who are in favor of equal rights for Arabs while they simultaneously want Arabs to leave Israeli land.

Michal Goldberg in Yedioth Ahronoth:

Former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak astounded the justice system and political establishment yesterday, three years after retiring from his senior post.  "I am a great believer in a state of all its citizens.  Arab residents are entitled to all the rights that Jews are entitled to," he declared in a lecture that he gave on the state of human rights in Israel.

"On one hand, we are a Jewish and democratic state, and I don't want to give this up otherwise I would have stayed in the United States.  A Jew has a primary right to immigrate to Israel, but as soon as he comes here, his rights should be equal to the rights of the Arab," he said at a conference marking the 25th anniversary of founding the Israel-US Civil Liberties Law Program, which is sponsored by the New Israel Fund.

It is not clear whether the topic of the speech he was asked to write caused the honorable judge to enter into issues that he had previously refraining from addressing publicly, but it is hard to dispute the fact that Barak's statements were of record-breaking sharpness.  "If you ask a Jew, 'are you in favor of equality with Arabs?' he will say, 'of course,' and if you ask whether he is in favor of throwing all the Arabs into the sea, he will say, 'of course.'  He doesn't see a contradiction between the two," Barak illustrated.

The judge, who has been accused in the past of holding leftist positions, said that the state of human rights in Israel was not satisfactory.  "We have attained achievements, but our tools are very limited, and the current situation is not satisfactory.  When you think about human rights in Israel, you also have to think about human rights in the occupied territories.  Everyone knows the situation there, and I hope that the solution won't come from the Supreme Court."

At the end of his statements, Barak warned: "If we don't find a way to live in peace with the Arab minority in the state, we won't find a way to live in peace with ourselves."

Barak's statements elicited many reactions, mainly due to his support for the idea of a state of all its citizens.  Senior figures in the justice system said, "Barak has gone crazy.  He is behaving irresponsibly, and doesn't understand his standing.  He is causing damage on an international level.  Barak is a brilliant jurist, but he has to remember that he was the Supreme Court president.  He is spitting into the well from which he drank."