Israel's Air Strike Against the Osiraq Reactor: A Retrospective

Abstract:     
Solarz argued that Israel's air strike "must be considered an understandable and legitimate act of self-defense." The point is that if a war exists between Iraq and Israel, Israel's bombing of the Osiraq nuclear reactor is just a normal and legitimate part of the general conduct of war. Whether or not Israel or Iraq, or both, regarded themselves as being in a state of war, any hostilities between them would amount to separate breaches of the peace in the eyes of the international community and would subject either country to forcible intercession by the U.N. Security Council. I quoted the U.N. Security Council resolution which "strongly condemned" Israel's air strike.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 7

Keywords: Osiraq reactor, air strikes, anticipatory self-defense, transboundary use of force

JEL Classification: K10, K30, K33

Accepted Paper Series