Israel Waiting for Turkey’s Apology

Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg..
Times of Israel..
05 October '12..

The Turkish government’s forceful response to the killing of five of its citizens in an artillery barrage fired by Syrian government forces is understandable. Turkey’s counterattack began with two days of artillery counter-strikes that reportedly killed a number of Syrian soldiers, and there are indications that an expanded operation is being planned. The Turkish parliament has given the government advance approval for a ground incursion into Syria, in response to the “aggressive action” that posed a serious threat to national security.

In the wake of this attack and the swift response, surely the Turkish government, headed by Prime Minister Erdogan, will understand and support the Israeli response to far more violent attacks on its civilian population. If Turkey is justified in conducting a major military response following the accidental cross-border killing of five civilians, its leaders will understand Israel’s right and need to act militarily in order to stop the thousands of deadly rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

In retrospect, perhaps Erdogan and other Turkish leaders will realize that their venomous attacks on Israel during and after the anti-terror operation in Gaza that began at the end of December 2008 were wrong. The false accusations of “massacres” and “human rights violations,” which were part of the ongoing political warfare against Israel (including the discredited Goldstone report), should never have been repeated by the Turkish leaders. Now, the same strategy is readily available for allegations against Turkish military forces operating in Syria (although the type of political coalition arrayed against Jerusalem to pursue human rights warfare and lawfare is unlikely to be formed against Ankara).

The Right to Self Defense

NGO Monitor
International Law Series
13 January '10

The right to self-defense, including the right to combat terror, is a cornerstone of international law, enshrined in the UN Charter (Article 51) and numerous Security Council Resolutions.

In order to delegitimize Israel’s self-defensive measures, many NGOs have issued statements distorting international law or even inventing legal bases under which Israel’s rights are denied.

Al Haq and PCHR falsely claim that Israel cannot invoke self-defense in response to attacks from non-state actors in occupied territory. In making this legally incoherent argument, these NGOs misinterpret key passages in international law.

A second approach, taken by Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem, alleges without any evidentiary basis that Israel’s exercise of self-defense is merely a pretext for punishing the Palestinians. There is no legal doctrine that establishes that an otherwise legal military action in self-defense becomes illegal simply because one of its alleged motives is to “punish” the aggressor.

Other groups, including Oxfam and FIDH, pay lip service to Israeli self-defense, but reject every Israeli action as a “violation of international law.”
The NGOs make no realistic suggestions of what would be considered lawful and effective measures, effectively nullifying the right to self-defense.

Palestinian NGO, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from European governments (EU, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Netherlands), labels direct attacks on Israeli civilians as acts of “resistance.”

Background: The Right of Self-Defense

Between 2000 and May 2009, Palestinian attacks killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and injured close to 10,000, through suicide bombings, rocket and mortar attacks, shootings, stabbings, bombings, and vehicular assaults. In executing these attacks, Palestinian groups deliberately targeted Israeli civilians and population centers.[1] In defense, Israel applied a vigorous counter-terrorism strategy.

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