Netanyahu: We need new laws of war

Gregg Carlstrom | October 21, 2009 11:06 AM | 3 | recommend (0) |   |      

Don't like the rules? Change 'em! A press release from Benjamin Netanyahu's office:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the professional bodies within the relevant government ministries to examine the facilitating of an international initiative to change the laws of war in keeping with the spread of terrorism throughout the world.

The press release doesn't provide any more detail about the changes Netanyahu is seeking, and news accounts of the cabinet meeting just rewrite the press release. But I assume he's talking about the supposed difference between "offensive" and "defensive" operations.

I'm curious to know which sections of the Geneva Conventions need updating. Maybe the section prohibiting armies from using human shields? Or banning the wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure? Which of the war crimes outlined in the report are actually important tools in the war on terror?

I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record; I know I've made similar points before. But the debate over Goldstone gets more nonsensical by the day. Israel doesn't like being accused of war crimes -- so it wants to change the definition of war crimes? Seems to me that would set a hugely dangerous precedent.

Netanyahu should also be careful what he wishes for. One example: Israel likes to assert that its brutal (and counterproductive) blockade of Gaza is necessary to fight Hamas; it calls Gaza a "hostile entity."

But it wasn't that long ago that Israel was complaining about an Arab blockade: One of the proximate causes of the Six-Day War was Egypt's decision to blockade the Straits of Tiran. Israel's current ambassador wrote about this in some detail in his excellent book on the war -- this was back when Michael Oren was capable of writing sensibly.

If Bibi wants to push for new laws of war that allow nations to impose blockades, he should remember that Israel is surrounded on all sides by people who view it as a "hostile entity."

Other Goldstone news: China will block the report from going before the U.N. Security Council or the International Criminal Court. Russia made a similar announcement on Monday.

Ironic. Israel's usual apologists (obligatory Goldberg link; explanation here) love to point out that the U.N. Human Rights Council, which commissioned the report, is stacked with countries with poor human rights records.

But when the report is blocked by Russia and China, both of whom have atrocious human rights records, the usual suspects are strangely silent.

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Categories: Human Rights, Israel & Palestine

Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Geneva Conventions, Goldstone Report, Israel Defense Forces, Michael Oren, Operation Cast Lead, Six-Day War, war crimes

3 Comments

i — October 21, 2009 1:42 PM

Why don't you drop your pretence of being unbiased?

At least be honest.

Gregg Carlstrom — October 21, 2009 2:10 PM in reply to i

If Netanyahu presents a detailed argument for how the Goldstone Report stymies the ability of states to fight terrorism, I'm willing to listen.

But he hasn't done that! We're just getting a lot of hyperbole. And in my reading of the Goldstone Report, it says very little about the tactics Israel used to fight terrorists. It focuses on the collective punishment imposed on the civilian population, and on the tactics allegedly used against civilians.

i — October 21, 2009 6:53 PM

By civilian population you mean only The palestinians, because the Israeli civilian population and what they had to endure means nothing to you.

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