Are IDF Tactics on Solid Legal Ground?

(Times of Israel) David Horovitz - Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser to Israel's Foreign Ministry and professor of international law at Hebrew University, said the key to the rule of proportionality is that "you try to minimize" civilian casualties. In this respect, Israel was unique in that it issues warnings, "which no other air force does," before striking at critical targets. Will Israel's "careful" approach now ensure that it is vindicated in the looming wave of UN probes and possible war crime suits? "It is irrelevant in terms of public relations," Sabel said. But Israel would be on firm legal ground "if the issue were to come to a neutral court of law." Sabel does not anticipate Israel finding itself before the International Criminal Court, because the Palestinians know that were they to accept the court's jurisdiction, as they would be required to do, they too would be subject to its authority. "And Hamas deliberately and flagrantly ignores the rules of war."


2014-08-08 00:00:00

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