Israel, Ireland, and International Law

Campus Report ^ | July 18, 2008 | Daniel Smith

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Israel, Ireland, and International Law

by: Daniel Smith, July 18, 2008

Experts on Middle Eastern nuclear affairs met July 14 at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) to discuss the September 2007 Israeli airstrike against Syria. Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, described the event as “troubling”; David Albright and Avner Cohen discussed the “strange” and “bizarre” issues surrounding the event. Albright is the President of the Institute for Science and International Security and Dr. Cohen is a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Dr. Cohen encapsulated the chief concern among the panelists: the “loud silence” from the international community. “What is the meaning of the silence?” Does it typify a vote of “no confidence” in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)?

According to Leonard Spector, Deputy Director of the Monterey Institute of International Studies’ James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, international silence is neither a “green light” nor an “endorsement” of Israel’s military strike. Rather, a “recalibration” is required from global leaders regarding the role of IAEA and UN. Spector commented that the nuclear facility began construction in 2001, but was not bombed until 2007, perhaps one of the reasons the UN and IAEA were not viewed as viable “alternatives” for Israel. Instead, the Israeli government adopted the “Bush Doctrine” of preemptive strikes.

Syria’s relative silence—they claimed Israel violated their “air space”—led Robin Wright, an international journalist who has reported in over 140 countries and six continents, to conclude that Syria was “caught red-handed” in the affair. To complicate matters, intelligence has determined that North Korea aided Syria during the Six Party Talks, and neither Russia nor China made any “noise.”...

[Libertarianize the GOP]

Thomas Graham, a senior U.S. diplomat who has been involved in the negotiation of every major international arms control and non-proliferation agreement for the past 30 years, concluded the panel discussion. Graham insisted that Israel's military action was a violation of “international law.” If the “rule of law” is to prevail, the world must interpret Israel's action as an “aberration.” The world community should hope, argued Graham, that Israel has not created a “precedent.”

"Self defense" and "military necessity" are both well recognized concepts in the "Law of War" as defined by International treaties to which Israel and the U.S. are a party. "International Law" does not forbid war, it only attempts to limit how it is conducted to minimize suffering.The right of a nation to defend itself does not require waiting until the enemy had launched an attack.