A series of tweets by the president of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Nawaf Salam, put a question mark regarding the objectivity of his decisions regarding Israel. The tweets were published on the judge’s personal account while he was Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Nations in 2015, in which he expressed harsh criticism of Israel’s policy in the territories and claimed that labeling criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism is a means of intimidation against its critics.
#Israel Occupation of #Gaza & the #WestBank. pic.twitter.com/rWdrMK0KHA
– Nawaf Salam Nawaf Salam (@nawafasalam) June 6, 2015
In one of the tweets, Salam published a picture with the caption “Unhappy birthday”, to mark 48 years of “occupation” in the territories of Judea and Samaria. In another case, he uploaded a picture of an emergency discussion at the UN regarding Israel and wrote that “Israel needs to finish the occupation and the violence.”
Participating in emergency #UNSC meeting on situation in #Palestine. #Israel must stop violence & end occupation. pic.twitter.com/kl1uPqcLeK
– Nawaf Salam Nawaf Salam (@nawafasalam) October 16, 2015
Salam claimed in another tweet that his criticism against Israel’s policies does not indicate that he is against Jews. In a tweet, he wrote that “when we criticize Israel, it’s not because of the Jewish majority that lives there.” In addition, Salam claimed that the presentation of Israel’s critics as anti-Semites is an attempt at intimidation, which he opposes.
When we criticize and condemn #Israel it is never because of the Jewish character of the majority of its population.
– Nawaf Salam Nawaf Salam (@nawafasalam) January 22, 2015
Portraying the critics of #Israel‘s policies as #Antisemites is an attempt to intimidate and discredit them which we reject.
– Nawaf Salam Nawaf Salam (@nawafasalam) January 22, 2015