THE latest news report talks of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu getting killed in an Iranian retaliatory response to the US-Israeli attack on Iran. Did it happen during a missile attack or a drone strike? There are no details. The report is unconfirmed, and not attributed to any authoritative source. It could be a complete enemy propaganda, totally false news, so we are advised to treat the story with utmost caution.
But if it happens to be true, it means that the Israel-Iran war has already taken the two highest leaders on both sides. Only US President Donald Trump appears safe and secure.
He escaped a couple of assassination attempts during his last presidential campaign, and as virtual commander of the invasion of Iran, he has presumably taken every protective measure against Iranian drones and missiles.
Iran would most certainly welcome Netanyahu’s reported death, even without any confirmation that the report is true. It would tend to balance the initial Iranian casualties, which include the Supreme Islamic leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and 48 top Iranian leaders, not to mention the hundreds of others who were killed during the first wave of the US-Israeli attack on Tehran. But it would also demonstrate Iran’s ability to conduct war the way its enemies would like to conduct the war — by targeting for decapitation the leadership of the country. In Venezuela, this decapitation took the form of abducting the nation’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and jailing him on drug trafficking charges in New York City. In Iran, the decapitation involved the physical assassination of Khamenei and other top religious leaders of the country.
In both cases, the US invaded without the US Congress declaring the existence of a state of war. The question being asked is this: Was Trump’s targeting of Maduro and Khamenei in accordance with the rules of war and international humanitarian law? In war, certain combatants may be targeted by the enemy for the gravest of reasons, but this must be in accordance with the rules of war and international humanitarian law. In the Second World War, the Allied Powers might have been tempted to target the Emperor of Japan the way Donald Trump has targeted Khamenei. But Harry Truman simply decided to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki rather than execute the defeated emperor.
Was it really necessary to kill Khamenei? Did it produce the regime change Trump was hoping for, or did it not merely hasten the rise of the next Islamic revolution that could overwhelm the entire Middle East? It is completely ironic that Trump had premised his return to the US presidency on a solemn promise to end all wars (Ukraine primarily) on his first day in office. He has instead brought war and the threat of greater war into the world.
In the case of Venezuela and Iran, neither country was at war with the US or Israel when Trump decided to invade Caracas, or when he and Netanyahu decided to attack Tehran. The war began with the US invasion in the case of Venezuela, and with the massive airstrikes on Tehran in the case of Iran. Trump clearly targeted Maduro and Khamenei for decapitation because no rival power could possibly prevent him from doing so.
But was it in accordance with the rules of war (just war) and international humanitarian law, for which he must be held into account? Or, does not the aggression against Venezuela and Iran constitute a crime against humanity, as defined by the Statute of Rome, which created the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague? The court is now scheduled to try former Philippine president Rodrigo Roa Duterte for some alleged extrajudicial killings during his war on drugs. If Duterte cannot avoid the ICC process, how can Trump avoid it for his unlawful attack on two independent and sovereign countries? This seems to me the first serious question the experts would be debating for some time.
fstatad@gmail.com
He escaped a couple of assassination attempts during his last presidential campaign, and as virtual commander of the invasion of Iran, he has presumably taken every protective measure against Iranian drones and missiles.
Iran would most certainly welcome Netanyahu’s reported death, even without any confirmation that the report is true. It would tend to balance the initial Iranian casualties, which include the Supreme Islamic leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and 48 top Iranian leaders, not to mention the hundreds of others who were killed during the first wave of the US-Israeli attack on Tehran. But it would also demonstrate Iran’s ability to conduct war the way its enemies would like to conduct the war — by targeting for decapitation the leadership of the country. In Venezuela, this decapitation took the form of abducting the nation’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and jailing him on drug trafficking charges in New York City. In Iran, the decapitation involved the physical assassination of Khamenei and other top religious leaders of the country.
In both cases, the US invaded without the US Congress declaring the existence of a state of war. The question being asked is this: Was Trump’s targeting of Maduro and Khamenei in accordance with the rules of war and international humanitarian law? In war, certain combatants may be targeted by the enemy for the gravest of reasons, but this must be in accordance with the rules of war and international humanitarian law. In the Second World War, the Allied Powers might have been tempted to target the Emperor of Japan the way Donald Trump has targeted Khamenei. But Harry Truman simply decided to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki rather than execute the defeated emperor.
Was it really necessary to kill Khamenei? Did it produce the regime change Trump was hoping for, or did it not merely hasten the rise of the next Islamic revolution that could overwhelm the entire Middle East? It is completely ironic that Trump had premised his return to the US presidency on a solemn promise to end all wars (Ukraine primarily) on his first day in office. He has instead brought war and the threat of greater war into the world.
In the case of Venezuela and Iran, neither country was at war with the US or Israel when Trump decided to invade Caracas, or when he and Netanyahu decided to attack Tehran. The war began with the US invasion in the case of Venezuela, and with the massive airstrikes on Tehran in the case of Iran. Trump clearly targeted Maduro and Khamenei for decapitation because no rival power could possibly prevent him from doing so.
But was it in accordance with the rules of war (just war) and international humanitarian law, for which he must be held into account? Or, does not the aggression against Venezuela and Iran constitute a crime against humanity, as defined by the Statute of Rome, which created the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague? The court is now scheduled to try former Philippine president Rodrigo Roa Duterte for some alleged extrajudicial killings during his war on drugs. If Duterte cannot avoid the ICC process, how can Trump avoid it for his unlawful attack on two independent and sovereign countries? This seems to me the first serious question the experts would be debating for some time.
fstatad@gmail.com
