By Phyllis Chesler
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan might be shocked if she knew a bit more about Aharon Barak, the former president of the Israeli Supreme Court, and the man whom she strongly and warmly praised during her confirmation hearings this week.
Kagan described Barak as the “John Marshall of the state of Israel because he was central in creating an independent judiciary for Israel, a young nation threatened from its very beginning in existential ways and a nation without a written constitution.” She admired Barak for ensuring that Israel would become a “very strong rule of law nation.”
Barak has been viewed in conservative circles as an unacceptably “activist” judge, but he has also been viewed as a “hero” among liberals for his record on civil rights, mainly for Palestinians and for Israeli Arabs.
In 2007, for example, South African Judge, Richard Goldstone said of Barak that “No judge has been more concerned for the human rights of the Arab minority in Israel or of the condition of those millions who are under Israeli occupation.” Eventually, Barak required a bodyguard because of his stance on Arab rights.
When she was 12, Kagan proudly became the first Jewish girl who had a Bat Mitzvah (confirmation ceremony) at a modern orthodox synagogue, the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City, which her family attended. Her Bat Mitzvah was “separate but not equal” in that she read from the Book of Ruth, not from the Torah (Old Testament), and she did so on Friday evening, not on the mandated Sabbath morning.
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Tags: Communism, Elena Kagan, Media, News Item, Supreme Court
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