Israel Matzav

French yacht heading for Gaza

A French yacht sneaked out of a Greek harbor on Tuesday and was on its way to Gaza.

The "Dignite al Karama" is so far the only boat in a planned flotilla organized by pro-Palestinian activists to set sail from Greece, after the authorities there blocked other vessels from leaving the port of Athens, Piraeus.

The 63-foot yacht had nine passengers aboard and expected to be "off Gaza within an day or two," said a statement from the French Boat to Gaza campaign.

"They are going to break the blockade in the name of the Freedom Flotilla, in the names of all those who have supported this mobilisation, for justice and the law," the statement said.

Earlier, campaign spokesman Jean-Claude Lefort said the Dignite had managed to slip past the Greek authorities because "it wasn't spotted. It wasn't in Piraeus, it was somewhere else."

The Dignite al Karama was the last gasp from the flotidopes. It turned back.

Activists seeking to break Israel's blockade of Gaza with a flotilla of aid ships appeared close to defeat on Tuesday as a self-imposed deadline expired and many of the international campaigners due to sail began to return home.

Although some vowed to continue with their quest, no new date has been set for departure of the flotilla, which was supposed to be taking medicines, food, gifts and building materials to Gaza.

...

One small French craft did manage to evade the Greek coastguard and reach international waters on Tuesday, but those on board decided not to try for Gazan waters alone and have now turned back.

That's probably a good thing, because Israel would have considerable latitude to defend itself if the boats showed up off the Gaza coast.

From an international law perspective, Israel is in an armed conflict with Hamas, the de facto governing authority of Gaza. Hamas has fired thousands of rockets into southern Israel in recent years as part of its concerted plan, to quote from its 1988 covenant, "to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine." The fact that Israel is in armed conflict with Hamas means that any attempt by Israel to enforce its naval blockade must be assessed according to the law of armed conflict.

According to this body of law, premeditated lethal force can only be used against combatants and civilians who directly participate in hostilities (and only against such civilians for such time as they directly participate in hostilities). Force, in particular lethal force, cannot be used against civilians except as a last resort. Obviously, the key is to distinguish between these two types of civilians, a not always straightforward task.

When engaging with the planned flotilla, the IDF needs to proactively gather intelligence and assess it as a reasonable state would.

Its response, undoubtedly, will be colored by its experience of May 2010. This is neither surprising nor unreasonable, since the law in this area evolves in response to past "lessons learned."

Hmmm.

UPDATE 2:43 PM

According to someone tweeting from the boat, the French yacht is still heading to Gaza (Hat Tip: Elder of Ziyon, who has more here).

Labels: flotilla of fools, Gaza plenty, laws of war

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:23 PM 0 comments

Dershowitz: Israel has the right to attack Iran... but it shouldn't now

Alan Dershowitz says Israel has the right to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

Israel has the right to prevent its civilians from being murdered by Iranian weapons, especially weapons of mass destruction. Iran would have no legal standing to protest a surgical attack on its nuclear facilities that are designing weapons that could be used to achieve Iran's declared goal of wiping Israel off the map and killing millions of its citizens. The leaders of Iran have publicly declared that a nuclear exchange, killing millions of Jews and Muslims, would be acceptable to them because it would destroy Israel while only damaging Islam. A suicide nation cannot be deterred by the threat of retaliation. Israel's only realistic option may be a preventive military strike of the kind it conducted against Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981. That surgical attack may have saved countless lives at the cost of one single casualty. By the way, Iran too tried to destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor, but failed. Certainly Israel has the right to do what Iran itself tried to do -- namely prevent a lethal enemy from developing weapons capable of mass murder of its citizens.

But first, he wants us to let Iran exhaust all rights of appeal.

This is not to say that Israel should attack Iran's nuclear reactors now. That it has the right to do so does not mean that it should not wait for a more opportune time. The law of war does not require an immediate military response to an armed attack. The nation attacked can postpone its counterattack without waiving its right. The military option should always be a last resort after all other efforts have failed. It may well be that efforts to permanently disable Iran's nuclear computers will succeed. Although it is unlikely that economic sanctions will ever persuade Iran's ideological zealots to end their nuclear weapons program, a combination of quasi military, tough economic and diplomatic sanctions may slow it down to a point where the military option can be postponed. But under no circumstances should the military option ever be taken off the table. Israel must preserve its ability to exercise its fundamental right of preventive self defense. If possible, it should act together with other allies. But if necessary, it has the right to act alone to protect its citizens. Nearly everybody hopes that it won't come to that, but hope is not a policy. As George Washington cautioned in his second inaugural address, "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."

That's not deterrence. Deterrence comes about when we say things like "we will attack Iran at a time and place of our choosing, when and if we decide that Iran has gone too far." Iran should never know when and if it's coming. And the option of an attack should always be on the table.

Hopefully, the Israeli government understands the difference.

Labels: Alan Dershowitz, Iranian nuclear program, laws of war

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:40 PM 1 comments