Adalah Presents Attorney General with ICTY's Judgment that Military Operations against Civilian Targets are War Crimes

16/08/2006

On 13 August 2006, Adalah sent a letter to the Attorney General of Israel, Menachem Mazuz, arguing that Israel's military operations against civilian targets in Lebanon, including the killing of civilians and bombing of villages and houses, are contrary to and considered war crimes under international humanitarian law.

Adalah based its arguments on a judgment issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which convicted senior commanders and politicians for killing civilians and the destruction of villages and houses, among other charges. The Tribunal imposed sentences of between 15 and 45 years' imprisonment. The defendants argued that the destruction was carried out on the grounds of “urgent military necessity.”

The Tribunal ruled, inter alia, that:

The acts of war carried out with disregard for international humanitarian law and in hatred of other people, the villages reduced to rubble, the houses and stables set on fire and destroyed, the people forced to abandon their homes, the lost and broken lives are unacceptable. The international community must not tolerate such crimes, no matter where they may be perpetrated, no matter who the perpetrators are and no matter what the reasons for them may be... International courts, today this Tribunal, tomorrow the International Criminal Court, must appropriately punish all those, and specially those holding the highest positions, who transgress these principles.

The Prosecutor v. Blaskic (2000), IT-95-14-T

Statement of the ICTY Trial Chamber, The Prosecutor v. Blaskic