Israel’s Air Strike Upon the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor

Abstract

The destructive potential of nuclear weapons is so enormous as to call into question any and all received rules of international law regarding the trans-boundary use of force. Many of the old rationales for these rules no longer apply. At the same time, the shared values underlying the rules apply more emphatically than ever, for the stake is global survival. I have tried to suggest some of the questions that must be asked about as apparently “simple” an incident as the Israeli attack on the nuclear reactor in Iraq.

Keywords: Iraqi nuclear reactor, Israel’s aerial strike, air strike, transboundary force, anticipatory self-defense

JEL Classification: K33, K10, K30