International Law: Three Strikes and It’s Out

Usually I give background and explain human rights related legal developments. But this post is more just frustration. The UN Charter was supposed to guarantee peace and security for everyone. It failed. So how can the UN then fault Israel for pursuing its own security without relying on the UN?

If and when Israel goes ahead and strikes back against Iran, we will undoubtedly once again hear it condemned as yet another flagrant violation of international law. And the truth is, they’ll have a point.

The UN Charter makes clear that nations are supposed to solve disputes via peaceful means and are only allowed to use force in the limited case of self-defense. Even if you consider a preemptive strike to be self-defense, which is a major topic in the literature, that would mean preemption where an attack is imminent and can’t otherwise be prevented. Retaliation or attacks meant to reduce another country’s military capabilities so it doesn’t become a potential threat in the future are clearly forbidden.

But before anyone gets too mad about what Israel may someday soon do, we’d have to remember that Iran’s October 1^st missile attack was also a breach of the UN Charter. It’s important to be clear this is not just because some of the missiles may have been aimed at civilian targets. It’s for the much more basic reason that countries are not allowed to fire missiles at one other at all.

But isn’t this a war? Here things get tricky, and legal experts can spin things in any direction. Israel is at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah is supplied by Iran. Does that mean Israel is at war with Iran also? Not necessarily, but maybe. But can we somehow get from the fact that Israel is fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon to saying that as long as that goes on the UN Charter permits Iran and Israel to shoot missiles at each other whenever they want? I think most folks in the know would agree that takes things a stretch too far.

And even if Iran and Israel can be understood to be technically at war due to what’s happening in Lebanon, what a strange war this would be. A war in which the countries alternate firing volleys of missiles every few weeks or months, not for any military reason in particular but rather to ‘send a message’ or ‘teach a lesson’ at such times as the world political calendar (and for that matter U.S. electoral calendar) make that appealing to do.

It would be possible for the UN to condemn both Israel and Iran (although one suspects 99% of the fury would be reserved for Israel, as common UN practice seems to be that misdeeds by countries other than Israel are largely overlooked). How dare they both thumb their nose at the prohibition of the use of force clause of the Charter? Steps must be taken, something must be done!

But I think a better response would be to condemn the UN for not fulfilling its responsibilities and not creating an environment in which it’s feasible for countries to rely on this clause in the charter. Countries can only be asked to refrain from using force if they are reassured that others will do likewise. And this in turn is supposed to be based on confidence that the Security Council will do its job maintaining international peace and security. What sane country would be willing to endanger its security out of deference to the UN?

The current, tragic situation in the Middle East, with so much violence and suffering, clearly reflects badly on the leaders of the countries involved. They all deserve blame for failing to peacefully solve the conflict.

But United Nations officials, the Security Council, and the Human Rights Council are the last ones who should be doing the condemning. Whatever our views about the current conflict, one thing we should all be able to agree to is that international organizations such as the UN and by extension their leadership have failed at their jobs.

Whether striking back at Iran is prudent, smart, or a good idea is a separate question, and people will disagree. But I don’t think we can blame Israel for not taking its obligations under the UN Charter into account when deciding whether or not to do it. If Iran strikes Israel twice, then Israel strikes back, those three strikes will show how big a failure international human rights institutions have been in their task of creating peace. Time to tell them three missile strikes between Iran and Israel and they’re out. We need a new international legal system, and a new United Nations that is designed to be non-biased and effective. Current leaders of the UN and related human rights organizations should all resign in shame.