by Lionel Bascom — February 10th, 2008 — 1 comment
The Jerusalem Post says the British foreign secretary in Israel issued a carefully crafted statement last week expressing “concern” at reports that Israel had reduced electricity supplies to Gaza and called on Israel to “reverse its decision” and to “fulfill its obligations under international law.”
The statement also “condemned” the suicide attack in Dimona and called upon the Palestinians to stop rocket attacks against “innocent civilians.”
International law allows states to defend themselves not only against attacks by foreign states but also against attacks by terrorist groups emanating from states that are either unable or unwilling to prevent such attacks.
The classical rule of international law allowing self-defense against non-state terrorist attacks was reaffirmed explicitly by the UN Security Council after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.
There has therefore been little, if any, recent international criticism of Israeli armed strikes against the rocket launchers and against Hamas operatives. States friendly to Israel apparently acquiesce to Israel’s right to take measures of self-defense against such Hamas military targets.
Under international law, only military objectives are legitimate targets and deliberate attacks against civilians or against civilian targets constitute a violation of the laws of war. Military targets may be attacked even if the attack is liable to cause civilian casualties, provided that the civilian casualties caused will not be disproportional to the military benefit of the attack.
International law also forbids destruction of property, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations. Hence, if a building houses terrorists or terrorist Therefore, destruction of civilian houses as a punishment or deterrent, as proposed by some, would be clearly illegal. The fact that the other side, in this case Hamas, deliberately attacks civilian targets does not absolve Israel from its obligations.
9:49 PM in Uncategorized, World Trade Center, Ground Zero, Related Stories, Freedom Tower News, Politics
International law works if humanity abides by this law. However, when religious fanatics fail to recognize any law but their own contrivance, those who follow International law must defend themselves.
Jeanne · February 13th, 2008 at 12:19 am