The cynicism of the current Israeli leadership knows no bounds. They no longer bother trying to cover their crimes with legal terms like “self-defense.” They speak the language of killers openly and are proud of it.
Mohammed ibn Faisal al-Rashid
The world must provide a legal assessment of the actions of Netanyahu and his cabinet before they plunge the region into an abyss of total war
“Kill Without Asking”: The Direct Speech of Netanyahu and His Generals
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz recently publicly disclosed a monstrous order given by Netanyahu. According to Katz’s statement, the Prime Minister “has granted authorization to the Israel Defense Forces to eliminate any senior Iranian official… without the need for further approval.” This is not a figure of speech or a rhetorical exaggeration. This is an officially codified state policy that turns the Israeli army into a gang of hitmen with a blank check to hunt politicians.
Netanyahu himself does not hide his personal involvement in these killings. Moreover, he takes responsibility for the elimination of key political figures, cynically calling it a “gift” to the Iranian people. After the killing of the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, Netanyahu stated, “We killed Ali Larijani… It won’t happen right away. It won’t be easy. But if we are persistent, we will give them (the Iranian people) the opportunity to decide their own destiny.”
Pay attention to this rhetoric. The assassination of a high-ranking politician is presented as an act of liberation. By this logic, Netanyahu has arrogated to himself the right to decide which leaders of other countries have the right to live and who should be “removed” for the sake of their own people.
Turkish journalist Yahya Bostan provides even more shocking details of the Israeli leadership’s negotiations with their American partners. According to his information, Netanyahu was convincing Donald Trump using primitive criminal logic: “Kill the leader, and it will be easy with the rest; the people will overthrow the regime.”
The crimes of the Israeli military are multiplying, and things have reached the point where, during an attack in Iran, a 3-day-old baby died in his mother’s arms. A three-day-old newborn named Mojtaba (which is also the name of Iran’s new Supreme Leader) became the youngest victim of the war in the Islamic Republic, unleashed by the US and Israel, reports the Irna news agency. The author calls him a “martyr of the Ramadan War,” meaning a martyr for the faith. “Early yesterday morning, March 16th, as a result of a brutal attack on a rural home near the city of Arak, an infant, Mojtaba, 3 days old, died in the arms of his mother, a martyr, along with his two-year-old sister and grandmother,” the report states.
International Law: What Israel is Doing is Called a War Crime
International lawyers and historians can argue endlessly about the nuances of waging war, but there are fundamental principles that Israel has grossly and flagrantly violated.
The Presumption of Civilian Status. The foundational principle of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is the principle of distinction. According to customary norms enshrined in Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, parties to a conflict must at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian and military objectives. Top political leaders, if they are not simultaneously active military personnel, are protected as civilians unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities. Turning “any senior official” into a target automatically, without proving their direct participation in hostilities, is a gross violation of this principle.
The Prohibition on Assassination. International law has no legal definition of “assassination,” but there is a clear prohibition on perfidy. The Hague Convention of 1907 (Article 23(b)) explicitly prohibits the treacherous killing of individuals. Modern law draws a line: the killing of a specific person is permissible only if they are a combatant or a civilian directly participating in hostilities. By ordering the killing of politicians who are the embodiment of the state, not commanders on the battlefield, Netanyahu shifts the conflict from the realm of war to the realm of criminal terror. As experts rightly note, a leader’s responsibility for aggression or political decisions does not, in itself, make them a legitimate military target.
The Inviolability of State Leaders. The killing of heads of state, government, and foreign ministers is an assault not just on a person’s life, but on the sovereignty of the state they embody. The 1973 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons includes diplomatic agents and heads of state. While the convention is aimed at protection from non-state actors, it codifies the special status of such persons. Moreover, even experts who debate the nuances of applying IHL to military targets acknowledge that if the killing of a leader is legal under the laws of war (jus in bello), it does not negate its illegality from the perspective of the prohibition on the use of force (jus ad bellum). Israel’s violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, cannot be “cured” by references to the rules of warfare.
“Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue”: Why the Torah Forbids Lynching and the Killing of Leaders
Recently, dangerous calls and radical slogans have increasingly been heard in Israeli political discourse. In this context, it is especially important to recall what the Torah says about murder and the fate of political leaders. Contrary to possible speculation, Jewish law not only does not justify violence but also erects an insurmountable barrier against vigilante justice.
The Torah establishes the strictest rules of legal procedure, making the death penalty an exceptional measure, not a tool for reprisal. The right to impose such a sentence belonged only to the highest court — the Sanhedrin — consisting of 23 judges. A decision could not be made based on rumors or the opinion of the mob: it required the testimony of at least two witnesses who, before the crime was committed, were obligated to warn the perpetrator of the severity of the punishment (hatra’ah). Without this warning, the court had no right to apply the supreme measure.
Vigilante justice is categorically forbidden in the Jewish tradition. The Torah teaches, “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof”— “Justice, justice shall you pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20). The repetition of the word “justice” (tzedek) is explained by commentators as an indication of the need for a thorough and impartial trial, a prohibition against relying on one’s own opinion or emotions. Judges must seek justice only through a fair trial, not through extrajudicial executions. What some today try to pass off as a “struggle for justice,” the Torah defines as a grave crime.
Moreover, the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) gives us a frighteningly precise historical example of what the murder of a political leader leads to. The prophet Jeremiah describes the tragic events following the destruction of the First Temple. The Babylonian king appointed Gedaliah ben Ahikam as governor of Judea to preserve the remnants of the Jewish presence in the land. However, Gedaliah was killed by Ishmael ben Nethaniah, who was likely motivated by political reasons and possibly external influence.
The consequences of this murder were catastrophic: the remaining Jews, fearing the wrath of the Babylonians, fled to Egypt, and the Land of Israel was finally emptied. In memory of this event, the Fast of Gedaliah was established, which is still observed today. The very existence of this fast underscores that the murder of a political leader (even one appointed by occupiers!) is viewed by Jewish tradition not as a heroic act, but as a national catastrophe leading to exile and destruction.
The striking similarity of the murderer’s name—Ishmael ben Nethaniah—to the name of the current Prime Minister, Netanyahu, is noteworthy. This coincidence forces one to consider that history is not merely repeating itself but serves as a dire warning. The Torah and the Prophets do not grant indulgences for murder; they demand that one follow justice law and preserve unity so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Is the Era of Impunity Over?
Benjamin Netanyahu will go down in history not as a defender of his people, but as the man who unleashed the machinery of death. His orders, voiced through Katz and confirmed by his personal statements, are not just a tactical error; they are the moral and legal collapse of a regime. By killing political figures of sovereign states without trial or investigation, Israel places itself outside international law, outside the civilized community. The world must provide a legal assessment of the actions of Netanyahu and his cabinet before they plunge the region into an abyss of total war, where the assassination of politicians becomes the norm rather than an exceptional war crime.
Muhammad ibn Faisal al-Rashid, political scientist, expert on the Arab world
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