Israel seems to have elected a government that promises to break international law by annexing the West Bank. What does this mean in actuality, very little. But what does it mean if the US supports them, a lot.
The United States played a key part is creating and inforcing International Law. One key facet of that is that countries aren’t legally allowed to invade and annex land anymore. That is the idea we fought Germany in WW2 to prevent.
Moreover, after WW2 we (via the United Nations) codified this idea into law. And that law is why we went to war in Korea and Vietnam. That is why we went to war with Iraq the first time (they annexed Kuwait as their 19th province). That law is why we have sanctions on Russia (they invaded and annexed Crimea). That law is what prevents China from invading Taiwan. That law is what we used to prevent Indonesia from invading East Timor (a country now).
As a principal we support self-rule of individuals, which is why America supports a 2 state solution with Israel and Palestine. But supporting an idea - like self rule - is a bit different than inforcing a law which our government designed and has tried to uphold.
IF we support this, then we support wars for conquest. There is no legal reason we should block Russia from taking over Ukraine or Belarus. No reason to object to China’s actions in the South China Sea. And no reason to object if Syria or Egypt attack Israel to get the land back. It isn’t a slippery slope, it is a abandoning International Law.
No comments:
Post a Comment