'Let us all be very, very, clear'

Let us all be very, very, clear. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, IS OPENLY SAYING TO THE WORLD: that every state would break international law in response to an attack. That every state would respond the way Israel has.

Without hesitation, he says he stands with Israel. Why? Because every state would react exactly as they did when attacked. Yes, every state under international law has the fundamental right to self defence. But what they are doing and have done, is objectively breaking the 4 fundamental pillars of international law during times of Armed Conflict.

1) Principle of proportionality: prohibits attacks against military objectives which are “expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.”

2) Principle of Distinction: this principle is as unequivocal as it is inflexible: parties to a conflict must “direct their operations only against military objectives.”’ When parties target non-military objectives such as civilians, they violate international law. The Principle of Distinction is widely accepted and constitutes the core doctrine of the law of war.

3) Principle of Military Necessity: [E]very injury done to the enemy, even though permitted by the rules, is excusable only so far as it is absolutely necessary; everything beyond that is criminal.” – Napoleon [Solis, Law of Armed Conflict p 258]. The principal of military necessity prohibits things such as wounding or permanently injuring an opponent except during the fight, torture to exact confessions and other activities simply used to inflict additional damage on the enemy that does not further the military objective. The Liber Code defines the prohibited activity as, “in general, … any act of hostility that make the return to peace unnecessarily difficult.

4) Principle of Unnecessary Suffering: “It is prohibited to employ weapons, projectiles and materials and methods of warfare of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.” [Additional Protocol I, Article 35.2].

🎥 : @middleeasteye