Israel Is Well Within Its Rights

What if Israel defended its citizens the way the British, the French, the Americans and the Russians did? When German rockets hit British cities during the World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill retaliated by bombing German cities, killing thousands of German civilians, and promised to continue until Germany's unconditional surrender. The United States did the same following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The French did much worse in Algeria and the Russians showed no concern for civilian life in Chechnya or Georgia.

The Israeli army, on the other hand, has gone to extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties, despite the reality that Hamas deliberately fires its rockets from densely populated civilian areas and hides its rocket launchers in schools, hospitals and mosques.

Every Hamas rocket attack against Israeli civilians -- and there have been more than 6,500 of them since Israel ended its occupation of Gaza -- is an armed attack against Israel under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which authorizes member nations to respond militarily to armed attacks against it.

Under international law, Israel is entitled to do whatever it takes militarily to stop Hamas rockets from targeting its civilians. Every Hamas rocket has the potential to kill dozens of Israeli civilians. Recently one hit a school just hours after the principal dismissed the students, fearing such an attack. If the rocket had hit and killed hundreds of schoolchildren, would those who protest Israeli actions acknowledge that Israel would then have the right to respond? No country need allow terrorists to play Russian roulette with the lives of its children.

In fact, under international law, Israel has the right to declare all-out war against the Hamas-controlled government of Gaza. In an all-out war, there would be no obligation to provide humanitarian assistance, electricity or any other services to an enemy who had started the war by an armed attack.

No one condemned Great Britain and the United States for the collateral damage it caused while trying to defeat those who attacked it during the second world war. Moreover, Germany did not deny the right of Great Britain or the United States to exist. The Hamas Charter not only denies Israel's right to exist, it calls for the complete destruction of the Jewish state. Surely Israel has as much right to defend its citizens as did the United States and Great Britain.

Why then is Israel singled out for such ferocious criticism?

Indeed, The only reason Israel has not won overwhelming military victories in Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza now, is that Israel has decided to engage in only limited and proportional military actions designed simply to stop the rocket attacks. Yet it is being condemned both for not winning a decisive victory and for killing too many civilians.

Hamas has learned how to manipulate the media's coverage of Israeli military actions. They deliberately fire their rockets from behind civilian shields in order to provoke Israel to respond and kill civilians. They are then ready to bring out the cameras to record and transmit every civilian death around the world.

Well, not quite every civilian death. The day before Israel launched its air attack against Hamas, Hamas fired a rocket in the general direction of Sderot. The rocket fell short of its mark and landed in Gaza -- killing two young Palestinian girls. Hamas, which imposes total censorship in Gaza, refused to allow cameras to record or transmit pictures of these dead Palestinian girls, because they were killed not by Israeli rockets, but rather by Palestinian rockets.

The Hamas tactic is encouraged by selective condemnation of Israel. Such condemnation creates a win-win situation for Hamas terrorism. Every time they kill an Israeli civilian, they win; every time Israel kills a Palestinian civilian, Hamas also wins.

The only way to defeat this cynical tactic is for the international community to place the blame squarely on Hamas for engaging in the double war crime of targeting Israeli civilians and using Palestinian civilians as human shields.

Dershowitz is a professor of law at Harvard. He is the author of many books, including, most recently, "The Case Against Israel's Enemies."

Comments

[murphy80]

oh, so the French did worse in Algeria.

great defense, AD

[onlyhere]

The chorus line of deception will never drown the cries of the weak and whispers of the dying.

Two things in 2009 already are giving me hope, Obama's inauguration and truth finally coming out in Palestine.

Finally the veil of lies has worn too thin under the blood of its victims.

[luziannagirl]

So-o-o...did I miss news reports of Hamas rocket launchers and rockets found in the smoking ruins of the Gaza U.N. "International" school, amid all the bloody tennis shoes and bookbags?

Timing is a little suspicious, don't you think Mr. D?

When the U.S. is sort of between Presidents? And, when the outgoing President is a barely-concealed closet End-Times Zionist Christian, and the incoming one has a deep appreciation of Islam based on early upbringing?

Not that I begrudge Israel or any other sovereign nation defending itself when justified. We all love an underdog, after all, and we all have a soft spot for the Holy Land.

It's just that this latest "defensive action" by Israel against the Hamas government in Gaza is beginning to look a bit familiar. A bit, what's the word? Unilateral.

I would say the cease fire, just hours before Barack Hussein Obama takes office, is probably a smart thing.

And no coincidence.

[vedder110]

I personally condemn the many war-crimes of the Allies during WWII, including the cruel bombing of civilian populations in Dresden and Tokyo that had little or no strategic value. So does your best friend Noam Chomsky. I also condemn the many civilian casualties and deaths Israeli has inflicted on the Palestinian people in its recent military operation, in addition to treating the Gaza strip little better than the Warsaw Ghetto.

[mnkors]

People of Jewish origin took a high ground after the WWII by saying "Never again." -- Hence the numerous Holocaust Museums, mostly outside Israel.
Prof. Dershowitz's main argument is "others are also bad." Well. Then why should we even talk about the Holocaust? The main lesson of the WWII was that treating other people as sub-humans destroys humanness of the perpetrator.
Israel has been practicing ethnic cleansing for decades. The current situation in the Gaza Ghetto carries signs of genocide. These crimes endanger a fragile fabric of civilization.
The Russian pogroms were conducted against "aliens" who were taking resources from the natives. The Nazi Germany was fighting for the recourse in Europe and elsewhere to provide for the glorious future of the German nation.
Prof. Dershowitz's logic of defense of Israel makes an apology for the war crimes in general.

[darthmaul]

The analogy between Germany rocketing the allied during the second world war and Hamas rocketing Israel is absurd for two reasons. First Germany was the preeminent power in Europe and was on equal footing with the allies. Hamas has no military to speak of, while Israel has an enormous amount of Ordinance, including tanks, Jets Artillery etc... Secondly, the British and allies didn't blockade Germany at the start of the war, essentially driving the country into poverty as Israel has done with Gaza. Don't compare a major power in the middle east, Israel, with the Palestinians in Gaza, it just doesn't wash.

[windypaperboy]

I have yet to see articles from Noam Chomsky in HuffPo.

[pfc1369]

There is a Jackie Mason rant somewhere today on HuffPost.

He's sort of a Dershowitz in the raw, without the slick polish and sophistry.

First, he says Jews=Israel. That is obviously not true. Mason and Dershowitz being two examples for openers..
Mason rants on like Michael Weiner on LSD.

The gist of his delusion is: "Jews are victims! They have always been victims! They will always be the victims, no matter how many they kill! The liberals have ruined everything!!"

You get the idea.

[pfc1369]

This shyster need to board a slow boat to China....and take the idiot Jackie Mason with him.

[LatinosAgainstZionism]

I have had the privilege to hear Dershowitz speak in person and he un-categorically describes himself as a Zionist, he was unapologetic toward "anything" Israel would do toward the Palestinians. This supposedly great legal mind is with out any balanced or nuanced thinking regarding Israel and the Palestinians, let alone compassion, every thing he said was very much in black in white. More of a Neo-conservative ideological hawk.

[Patricia84]

Well, I guess you're right as that land was given to Israel by the bearded guy above with this very order: "But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth" - Deuteronomy 20:16

[111]

Norman Finkelstein proved that Dershowitz has no problem with lying or distorting the truth to defend Israel.

http://normanfinkelstein.com/

When Dershowitz couldn't defend his book that Finkelstein calls a, "preposterous hoax" he led an attack against the man.

Torture and the use of chemical weapons are never justified.

[BubbaC33]

If you have proof Dershowitz lied or is wrong in his posting make a specific statement. It is unfair to everyone in this discussion to make such a charge with nothing specific included.

[itsthemedication]

Do we have enough prima facie evidence to call him an unapologetic zioinist shill? If we agree that we do, and you also agree with the absurdly evident fact that Israeli government policy and American foreign policy cannot possibly be the same, unlike what you see on the idiotic JINSA web site, then does it not follow that Dershowitz is merely a Likud salesman that collects an American paycheck from an institution that protects his bully pulpit through tenure? What he preaches is certainly extremism and it's not much of a leap to call it traitorous, in that he knowingly seeks American policy shifts that are not in the best interest of our citizens.

[AllanGoldstein]

"Oasis From Politics As Usual"

I have posted a submission for the Citizen"s Briefing Book. http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/home

The submissions with the most points, based on votes, will be compiled and put in the Citizen"s Briefing Book.

The theme of the post is that we revisit the 1948 UN mandate to establish Jerusalem as an "International City." I have always sincerely felt that Jerusalem for millennia has been the key to peace in the Middle East. Jerusalem means so much for so many.

The voice that we now have is what we voted for! This is not politics as usual! Please vote for this submission to the Citizen"s Briefing Book. Please Email and ask your family and friends to vote for this submission.

You can find it by going to the Citizen"s Briefing Book homepage http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/home signing up, go to Foreign Policy, and type in Oasis For Peace in the search box.

If you are signed in you can go directly to

http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=08780000000517S&srPos=0&srKp=087

If indeed we are the change we have been waiting for, we can promote that change now! If you agree with this concept and connect with this issue of Jerusalem becoming this planet"s "International City" I am asking for your help.

Please help, and spread the word to vote on this submission.

Mahalo,
Allan Goldstein
http://wwww.mindfulcoaching.com
http://www.oasisfromstress.wordpress.com
[e-mail]

[TommyMcCarthy]

If it wasn't so sad it would be comical.

Intricate arguments about "legalities" quickly become beside the point when a modern military is daily engaged in the slaughter of innocent civillians.

History will mark this as the time that Israel lost the support of millions in the west (like me)...... as well as her soul.

I'm an admirer of Mr. Dershowitz' writings on U.S. constitutional law .......even when we disagree.

His spirited justification of the slaughter in Gaza, while not unexpected,....leaves me to wonder (yet again):

Is there ANY action by Israel Mr. Dershowitz would NOT defend??

tm

[misterbone]

Prof Dershowitz is simply being a zealous lawyer, as if Israel was his client. As far as I'm concerned, he's no moral authority.

[hulka37]

What a guy.