“An intentional act of injustice is an injury. A Nation has therefore the right to punish it..
.. This right to resist injustice is derived from the right of self-protection.
” Emmerich de Vattel, 1758) Israel’s law-based conflicts with Hezbollah and Hamas terrorism is grounded in the right of self-defense. This “peremptory” or unassailable right is intended to benefit not only the state defending itself against terror-crimes, but also the “community of nations” as a whole. Together with earlier jurists Hugo Grotius and Samuel Pufendorf, Vattel was a seminal creator of modern international law.
Interestingly for Israel, all three founders drew heavily on Hebrew Scripture (Jewish Law) and derivative Natural Law. Regarding Israel’s current war on jihadist terror, there are underling and complicating considerations. In law and practice, Israel’s “war in the north” against Hezbollah and against Hamas in Gaza are secondary or “reflective” belligerencies against sub-state adversaries.
In both coinciding theatres of warfare (conflict regions that are sometimes overlapping ) the true source of pertinent reflections is Iran. In essence, for Israel, Iran represents the common and primary foe, the potentially annihilationist that systematically seeks to develop operational nuclear warfare capabilities. Because Hezbollah poses a much greater strategic threat to Israel than does Hamas – including many-sided synergistic hazards with a rapidly-nuclearizing Iran –.