ICJ Head Resigns to Become Next Prime Minister of Lebanon
Wednesday, 15 January 2025 | Nawaf Salam resigned as president of the International Court of Justice, a UN body in the Hague, on January 14, marking the next step in his bid to become the next Lebanese prime minister.
The UN Security Council will now “fix the date for the election of his successor by the General Assembly and the Security Council,” the court stated.
The successor will complete Salam’s term, which is slated to expire on February 5, 2027.
Salam was called on by newly elected Lebanese President Michael Aoun to form a government on Monday after having been endorsed by a majority of the country’s lawmakers.
“Judge Salam became a member of the court on February 6, 2018, and its president on February 6, 2024,” per the court. He was previously the Lebanese ambassador to the global body in New York, from 2007 to 2017.
Salam’s career as a diplomat and justice on the global court has been rife with anti-Israel sentiment.
“The good news: Hezbollah wanted the other guy,” wrote Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “The bad news: Salam is a longtime supporter of Ayatollah Khamenei, Fidel Castro and Bashar Assad.”
(This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on January 14, 2025. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)
