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Targeting Terrorists - Legal Aspects
(Israel Foreign Ministry) - The targeted killing of terrorists must be regarded as an exceptional measure, appropriate only in extraordinary circumstances. However, in cases in which there is an imminent and genuine threat, and in which there is no practical possibility of preventing such attacks by other means, it is permissible under international law. No state is required by international law to remain passive in the face of armed attacks. The right of self-defense is a cardinal principle of customary international law, which also finds expression in Article 51 of the UN Charter. States are entitled to take proportionate action in defend their citizens from an imminent armed attack. Over the past three years, terrorists operating from within Palestinian areas have murdered 945 men, women and children and maimed thousands. The state exercising the right to self-defense must weigh carefully any potential civilian casualties and limit its action to the minimum necessary to bring the security threat to an end. The use of such phrases as "assassination" and "extra-judicial killing" is demagogic and inappropriate. "Assassination" describes the murder of a prominent person or public official for political ends. The targeting of terrorists focuses on the role of the individual in the murder of innocent civilians and has as its goal not political motives but the saving of life. "Extra-judicial killing" implies that an alternative legal recourse is available and has been deliberately ignored. On the rare occasions that Israel targets terrorists, it is precisely because no legal recourse is available. As such, the policy is no more extra-judicial than any individual using force to defend themselves from attack.