Israel's Assassinations and Violence

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/11/20121118122713481889.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/11/2012111842933654975.html

I have included 2 web addresses here because I am writing about both of these articles. The second article discusses the looming threat in the Gaza strip of Israel invading with a ground force. Violence in the area has once again continued between the Israelis and Palestinians. As of right now the violence has accumulated into missiles being fired back and forth between each side, but there is a fear in Gaza that there will be a ground invasion by Israel's army. The supposed target of many of Israel's missiles are "terrorist leaders" in Gaza, usually members of the Hamas group there. However, there are legal questions involved in Israel's missiles and assassinations.

Israel has a long-standing policy of using assassinations as political action. The latest one of these assassinations is the assassination of the Hamas military commander. This is legal under the UN Charter, but a problem with these assassinations is that they often have civilian casualties as well. Especially in an age when missiles are the new silenced handgun, there is a risk of killing civilian bystanders, which is illegal at the international level. Also, there is a problem because often the targets are not at the locations that are destroyed. For instance, Israel sent missiles at a building they believed a Hamas leader was in, but ended up just killing four children and an 80 year old.

It will be interesting to see what the world's response will be to this continued violence between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Jon Kingzette