'Experts': 'International law' has no answer to terrorism
Some of you may wonder why I keep telling you that it's okay to go after terrorists hiding among civilians even if some of those civilians are hurt. Especially when everyone keeps condemning Israel every time it does that. It seems that most 'experts' in international law believe that international law is a suicide pact.A SHORT WHILE ago I met with a group of eminent jurists who were on a fact-finding mission, examining Israel's military operation in Gaza. After listening to their concerns and criticisms, I asked them: "Considering the rocket attacks launched against Israel by terrorist groups in Gaza, what in your view would have constituted a lawful response?" The answer was total silence.Read the whole thing.
The troubling notion that international law has no practical advice for a state facing terrorist attacks other than to grin and bear it is increasingly pervasive. John Dugard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian territories, issued eight reports on Israel's responses to terrorism and never found a single measure adopted by Israel to be lawful or proportionate. His successor, Richard Falk, recently issued a report that goes one remarkable step further. In the conditions existing in Gaza, he asserts, any Israel military response would be "inherently unlawful." According to Falk's understanding of international law, Israel has no right whatsoever to defend itself.
Contrary to the impression created by such experts, international law is not a suicide pact. For all its limitations - which are many - it offers practical guidance to a state seeking to respond responsibly and effectively to threats to the lives of its civilians.
Of the eighteen comments on that story, two were intelligent (one was very intelligent). The rest showed a level of anti-Israel derangement that makes me glad that I no longer live in that newspaper's local circulation area.
A sovereign nation can only give up its sovereignty and subject itself to international law of its own free will. If international law is a suicide pact, I sure hope my country will withdraw from it.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:07 AM
2 Comments:
In practical terms, the international law crowd intends to solve their internal contradictions in the the usual multi-culti way: one set of rules for democracies, one for dictatorships, and a third set just for Israel.
Israel should really get out of the UN. As long as Israel accepts its premises, it will never be a truly equal country in the eyes of the world.
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