Posts tagged ‘asymmetrical warfare’
Does the International Law of Assassination Outside of the Battlefield Make Sense?
Alan Dershowitz’s recent Huffington Post column discusses the legality of the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, (now former) leader of Hamas’ military wing. Commentators correctly speculate that Israel was responsible. Dershowitz argues that the assassination did not violate international law. Whether or not the assassination violated international law, another important question is whether the relevant international law makes sense.
Dershowitz’s first inquiry is to determine if al-Mabhouh was a combatant vis-à-vis his killers. Accepting that the Israelis assassinated him, al-Mabhouh was a combatant—considering that he was an “active participant in the ongoing war by Hamas against Israeli civilians. Indeed, it is likely that he was killed while on a military mission to Iran in order to secure unlawful anti-personnel rockets that target Israeli civilians.[1]” Now that we’ve established that al-Mabhouh was a combatant, we have to determine if there are circumstances in which international law forbids combatant assassinations. Presumably, international law does not allow assassinations of combatants under all circumstances.
Dershowitz writes that geography is the only limitation on assassinations of combatants. Had the assassination taken place in Gaza, it assuredly would have been legal. The only complication to the legality of the assassination is the fact that it took place in Dubai. Dubai law and sovereignty was violated—but nothing else. Perhaps there should be other circumstances in which assassinations of combatants are prohibited. I confess to not being an…
