Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore by Jay Sekulow

Author:Jay Sekulow [Sekulow, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Howard Books
Published: 2014-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

THE 2014 GAZA WAR

WHO ARE THE REAL WAR CRIMINALS?

As explained previously, Hamas’s kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers sparked the latest escalation in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.220 In response to the kidnappings, Israel launched Operation Brother’s Keeper in the West Bank, a search-and-rescue mission to find the missing teens.221 The Israeli investigation identified two Hamas operatives as suspects.222 While Hamas did not at first claim responsibility for the kidnappings, Hamas officials publicly praised the kidnappings and subsequent murder of the three Israeli teens as “heroic,”223 in itself a despicable act.

The kidnappings were followed by rocket fire.

On June 28, six rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel.224 In response, Israel struck twelve targets in Gaza on June 29.225 On June 30, the bodies of the three Israeli teens were found.226 Following the discovery of the slain Israeli teens, a Hamas spokesman warned that if Israeli prime minister Netanyahu “brings a war on Gaza, the gates of hell will open to him.”227 On July 1, Israel launched 34 air strikes on Gaza in response to 18 rockets fired at Israel from Gaza.228 On July 7, Israel Defense Forces announced from its Twitter account the commencement of “Operation Protective Edge in #Gaza against #Hamas, in order to stop the terror #Israel’s citizens face on a daily basis.”229

When it comes to the use of force against or by nation-states, international law is clear: the threat and the use of force against a U.N. member state are prohibited.230 Thus, every Hamas rocket attack violates international law. Every single one.

Article 51 of the U.N. Charter recognizes “the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations.”231 It is essential to note that Article 51 does not create the right of self-defense; it is an inherent right of all states under customary international law.232 This inherent right of self-defense (and the responsibility for determining when self-defense is appropriate) lies, as it always has, with the government of each state. Customary international law also recognizes the right of self-defense against nonstate actors,233 like the terrorist group Hamas and its Islamist allies in the Gaza Strip.

Additionally, when one is acting in self-defense, international law “does not require a defender to limit itself to actions that merely repel an attack; a state may use force in self-defense to remove a continuing threat to future security.”234 In other words, to use a historical example, when Imperial Japan attacked the United States on December 7, 1941, our right of self-defense was not limited to merely shooting back at the planes attacking Pearl Harbor but included the right to declare war on Japan and fight its military until it surrendered. Hamas’s rocket attacks give Israel the right—should it choose to exercise that right—to destroy Hamas.

In addition, the standard for self-defense does not limit the defender to a totally like-kind response, but provides the necessary flexibility to reduce or eliminate the threat. In other words, the degree of force employed in self-defense can be considerably greater than that used in the original armed attack.

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