Israel seeks to rewrite the laws of war
JVL Introduction
We are in a dangerous place.
Israel is tearing up the laws of war in its extensive use of assassination involving widespread collateral damage.
As Neve Gordon, Prof of International Law at QMUL explains “the laws of armed conflict…allow, or at least tolerate, the killing of civilians not directly participating in hostilities so long as these killings are not “excessive” in relation to the “concrete and direct” military advantage that the belligerent expects to gain from the attack.”
What is “excessive”? In 2002 the assassination of Qassam Brigades leader Salah Shehade provoked uproar in Israel because of the civilian death toll of 15. It provoked a letter from 27 Israeli pilots refusing to fly assassination sorties over Gaza.
After 2008 Israel issued what was described as “a revision of international law”: for the sake of protecting Israeli soldiers, Palestinian civilians could be killed with impunity. It also allowed the intentional attacking of civilian sites in order to deter Hamas.
Recently, following October 7th, Israel’s military quantified its redefinition of international law, advising that up to 15 or 20 civilians could be killed for every junior Hamas operative, and more than 100 civilians in the assassination of a single commander.
If other states accept this reinterpretation of international law, says Gordon, “the laws of armed conflict will end up justifying rather than preventing genocidal violence.”
RK
This article was originally published by Al Jazeera on Mon 15 Jul 2024. Read the original here.
Israel seeks to rewrite the laws of war
If the world accepts the way Israel now interprets the principle of proportionality, then genocide will become justified.
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In 1931 Japan seized the Chinese city of Mukden and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo a year later. When the League of Nations ordered a withdrawal Japan ignored the order and left the League in 1933.
In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia, then known as Abyssinia. The League of Nations imposed sanctions which were ignored by some members of the League. France and the UK were half hearted in their application of sanctions, ignored Italy’s use of chemical weapons and went on to be duplicitous; proposing to stop the war whilst secretly drawing up a secret pact which allowed Italy to control large areas of Ethiopia.
The appeasers today are more subtle hiding behind ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’ as justification for allowing it a free hand to do what it pleases in Gaza and in the Occupied Territories. The US has taken on the role filled in the 1930s by the duplicitous duo of the UK and France; bargaining away the rights and lives of the Palestinians in order to find a formula acceptable to Israel.
Japan and Italy responded by leaving the League of Nations. Israel has responded by attacking the United Nations both verbally and militarily in Gaza and the Occupied Territories, and ignoring the order of its highest court the ICJ. A government minister threatens Europe that for every additional nation recognising the State of Palestine a new Israeli settlement will be established on the West Bank. The same minister has declared that Palestinian prisoners should receive a bullet in the head.
In 1938 Chamberlain bought time for Britain to rearm. What excuse do present day appeasers have for turning a blind eye to the deliberate and systematic cruelty being inflicted each day by Israel upon the people of Gaza?
Given the sheer brutality, detainment and torture of Palestinians, the patten bombing and displacement across Gaza and the endless supply of bombs and weapons from the west – “International Law” only exists in words, so long as Israel continues its genocide with complete impunity.
There is no “war” in Gaza and the rest of Palestine. There is ethnic cleansing / genocide by a nuclear-armed, army, navy and air force and legitimate resistance by a small number of lightly armed freedom Fighters.