Michelle Thompson2 UN experts also emphasize that Lebanon must prevent terrorists from using its territory to plan attacks against Israeli people.
Two UN experts criticized Israel’s suspected executions of Hamas deputy commander Saleh al-Arouri and six others in Lebanon last week, saying they “would amount to extrajudicial killings and crimes of murder.”
The experts also condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials for threatening to murder Hamas leaders wherever in the world.
“All states are prohibited from arbitrarily depriving individuals of their right to life in military or security operations abroad, including when countering terrorism,” said the experts, UN special rapporteur on human rights while countering terrorism Ben Saul and Morris Tidball-Binz.
“When killings in foreign territory are not authorized by international law, they are arbitrary.” Israel was not acting in self-defense because no evidence was produced that the victims were carrying out an armed attack on Israel from Lebanese territory.”
They also stressed Lebanon’s responsibility to prevent terrorists from using its territory to plan attacks on Israeli people, as well as to investigate, arrest, prosecute, or extradite suspects involved in terrorism in Lebanon or Israel.
“Other states, including Iran and Syria, have obligations not to support any terrorist preparations in Lebanon or Palestine directed against Israeli civilians,” the experts stated.
‘There is no legal rationale or basis.’
According to the experts, Israel has not offered any legal basis for the strike, nor has it been informed to the Security Council, as required by Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
“Any legitimate legal justification for Israel’s military operations against Hamas in Gaza, in response to the 7 October attack on Israel emanating from Gaza, does not extend to authorizing strikes in Lebanon or other countries,” the lawyers wrote.
“There is no legal basis for geographically unlimited attacks against members of an armed group wherever they are.”
The experts cautioned that Israel’s strike was a dangerous regional escalation of the Gaza conflict, a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, and an illegal use of armed force against Lebanese land in violation of UN Charter Article 2(4).
They claimed that the United Nations Security Council, General Assembly, and Human Rights Council have repeatedly stated that states must follow international law when combating terrorism.
“Israel has a heinous record of assassinating suspected terrorists abroad, including the 2010 killing of a Hamas member in the United Arab Emirates and hundreds of preventive strikes on Hezbollah during the Syrian civil war.” “Israeli police and courts must bring everyone involved in these alleged murders to justice,” the experts urged.
“The United Nations has also affirmed that terrorism is a threat to human rights,” according to the UN spokespersons.
Saul is an Australian scholar, and Tidball-Binz is a medical doctor of Chilean origin.
Emily Martinez
