Supreme Court Justice Michael Cheshin on Wednesday took responsibility for saying that Supreme Court President Aharon Barak would prefer that 30-50 people be killed in terrorist attacks rather than human rights be violated. However, he said that the words were spoken during a heated discussion on the Citizenship Law, and that they were taken out of context.
Cheshin said he called Barak to apologize for what was reported. He said his conflict with the Court's president was not a personal one and that they were close friends. Barak, according to Cheshin, was not offended and understood the context of the comments.
He added that the report caused him great emotional distress. Later, the judge said that he made a mistake when he agreed to be interviewed on the matter. Cheshin lamented that the papers presented the conflict as a personal, not a professional one.
Speaking to Army Radio, the judge condemned what he thought was the media's tendency to focus on the negative. He likened the situation to a beautiful woman, who, if examined closely, blemishes would invariably be discovered.
The temporary provision to the Citizenship Law was extended again some two weeks ago, preventing from Palestinians who married Israeli citizens from obtaining Israeli citizenship or living within the Green Line. The verdict was arrived at a narrow 6-5 vote, where Barak led the minority opinion that the law should be eliminated.
