Israel says Klling of Civilians is Legal

international | miscellaneous | other press Wednesday December 19, 2007 15:03 by Joe

The Israeli Attorney General says that if Civilians are killed as part of a military operation where an intelligence 'mistake' has been made, then it is legal

Referring to the bombing of a building in Kafr Kana on July 30, 2006, in which 27 people were killed Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz told the Winograd Committee that if, "in good faith, on the basis of certain information, and it turns out that there was a mistake, and in this sense, to the best of my knowledge, the operation in Kafr Kana [fits that description and therefore] clearly meets the rules of international law,"

Mazuz also described the massive Israeli bombing of civilians on theLebanon border on July 12, 2006, the day eight Israeli soldiers were kidnapped, as being, "not disproportionate."

This is a new trick by Israel to justify the bombing of civilians. They can now say that at the time the attack was planned the intelligence said there were no civilians in the area and that any resultant casualties were a 'mistake' and not in any way a crime by Israel.