A Final Word
Clearly, a legal statutory provision is necessary for the purpose of authorizing the government to instruct in the use of physical means during the course of an interrogation, beyond what is permitted by the ordinary "law of investigation", and in order to provide the individual GSS investigator with the authority to employ these methods. The "necessity" defence cannot serve as a basis for this authority.
�
39. This decision opens with a description of the difficult reality in which Israel finds herself security wise. We shall conclude this judgment by re-addressing that harsh reality. We are aware that this decision does not ease dealing with that reality. This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it, and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand. Preserving the Rule of Law and recognition of an individual's liberty constitutes an important component in its understanding of security. At the end of the day, they strengthen its spirit and its strength and allow it to overcome its difficulties.
�Aharon Barak, President,
Israeli Supreme Court, Sep.06.99
________________
If we do not protect democracy, democracy will not protect us.
My lesson was not hatred; my lesson is not hopelessness about the nature of a human being. Quite the opposite: my lesson was a belief in and a love of every human being. Only a belief in our ability to overcome difficulties enabled us to exist amidst the horror. Only a belief in the human being, and his or her dignity, allowed us to live after we left the hell.
And so, my lesson from the Holocaust is the centrality of the human being and human rights are of the highest significance. My lesson was that we are all made in the image of God, and as such we are all equal. Protecting the dignity and equality of the human being - is the North Star which guides me in my role as a judge. Of course, as a judge I do not have an agenda. I do not represent a platform to an electorate on that basis of which I am elected. I am a judge, whose job is to determine, in an objective and independent manner, the conflict that are brought before me. I am neutral. However this neutrality is not indifference. As a judge, part of my job, as I see it, is to protect the social frameworks and to further the needs of society. As a judge, part of my job, as I see it - which I learned from my life experience - is to protect human rights and the dignity and equality of every human being. As a judge, part of my job, as I see it, is to search for and find the appropriate balance between society and the individual.
�
In Nazi Germany there was the Rule of Law. The Fuerher's word was law and had to be fulfilled. The Nazi government acted upon laws that it created for itself. This is not the Rule of Law that we are asked to preserve. The Rule of Law of which we speak is the rule of democratic law. It is the law that is accepted by the people via their representatives. It is the law that strikes the appropriate balance between the needs of the state and the rights of the individual. Thus, democracy is not only majority rule. Democracy is also human rights. A majority that negates the rights of the minority injures democracy. For me, democracy is not only formal democracy. For me democracy is also substantive democracy. Democracy has its own internal morality based on dignity and equality of all human beings. There is no democracy without recognition of basic values and principles such as morality and justice. Above all, democracy cannot exist without the protection of individual human rights - rights so essential that they must be insulated from the power of the majority.
�Aharon Barak Keynote Speech
52nd Commencement, Brandeis University, May.21.03
Clearly, a legal statutory provision is necessary for the purpose of authorizing the government to instruct in the use of physical means during the course of an interrogation, beyond what is permitted by the ordinary "law of investigation", and in order to provide the individual GSS investigator with the authority to employ these methods. The "necessity" defence cannot serve as a basis for this authority.
�
39. This decision opens with a description of the difficult reality in which Israel finds herself security wise. We shall conclude this judgment by re-addressing that harsh reality. We are aware that this decision does not ease dealing with that reality. This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it, and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand. Preserving the Rule of Law and recognition of an individual's liberty constitutes an important component in its understanding of security. At the end of the day, they strengthen its spirit and its strength and allow it to overcome its difficulties.
�Aharon Barak, President,
Israeli Supreme Court, Sep.06.99
________________
If we do not protect democracy, democracy will not protect us.
My lesson was not hatred; my lesson is not hopelessness about the nature of a human being. Quite the opposite: my lesson was a belief in and a love of every human being. Only a belief in our ability to overcome difficulties enabled us to exist amidst the horror. Only a belief in the human being, and his or her dignity, allowed us to live after we left the hell.
And so, my lesson from the Holocaust is the centrality of the human being and human rights are of the highest significance. My lesson was that we are all made in the image of God, and as such we are all equal. Protecting the dignity and equality of the human being - is the North Star which guides me in my role as a judge. Of course, as a judge I do not have an agenda. I do not represent a platform to an electorate on that basis of which I am elected. I am a judge, whose job is to determine, in an objective and independent manner, the conflict that are brought before me. I am neutral. However this neutrality is not indifference. As a judge, part of my job, as I see it, is to protect the social frameworks and to further the needs of society. As a judge, part of my job, as I see it - which I learned from my life experience - is to protect human rights and the dignity and equality of every human being. As a judge, part of my job, as I see it, is to search for and find the appropriate balance between society and the individual.
�
In Nazi Germany there was the Rule of Law. The Fuerher's word was law and had to be fulfilled. The Nazi government acted upon laws that it created for itself. This is not the Rule of Law that we are asked to preserve. The Rule of Law of which we speak is the rule of democratic law. It is the law that is accepted by the people via their representatives. It is the law that strikes the appropriate balance between the needs of the state and the rights of the individual. Thus, democracy is not only majority rule. Democracy is also human rights. A majority that negates the rights of the minority injures democracy. For me, democracy is not only formal democracy. For me democracy is also substantive democracy. Democracy has its own internal morality based on dignity and equality of all human beings. There is no democracy without recognition of basic values and principles such as morality and justice. Above all, democracy cannot exist without the protection of individual human rights - rights so essential that they must be insulated from the power of the majority.
�Aharon Barak Keynote Speech
52nd Commencement, Brandeis University, May.21.03
