Sunday, May 16, 2021
On Israel's Right of Self-Defense
When it comes to Palestine-Israel, Daniel Larison is better than most on the American Right. For instance, in 2019, he astutely observed, "Israel is not America's Ally". This may help explain why he is no longer a senior editor at The American Conservative, which, as of today, has said nothing about Israel's latest criminal "mowing the grass" in Gaza.
On May 12, 2021, Larison wrote:
Every time that the Israeli military carries out indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas in the occupied territories and kills Palestinian civilians, there is inevitably the rote response from American politicians and pundits that Israel has the “right to defend itself.” In almost all cases, this invocation of the right of self-defense is an all-purpose permission slip that gives any Israeli military action a stamp of approval ... What makes this all the more tedious is that no one actually disputes that Israel is permitted to defend itself. [emphasis added]This is a little strange because in a different article Larison notes: "The Israeli government has gone out of its way in recent weeks to confirm that it is an apartheid state." Apartheid is a crime under international law.
Objectively, in the case of Palestine, Israel is the aggressor, not the defender. Criminals have no right of self-defense in furtherance of their crimes or in securing the fruits of their crimes. Furthermore, occupying powers, such as Israel, have no legal right of self-defense against people resisting occupation. Moreover, even if Israel did have a right of self-defense that would not permit them, as they have repeatedly done, to violate the principles of distinction and proportionality.
Labels: apartheid, Carlos Latuff, Israel, law, Palestine, War
