Shal you ask if the pre-emptive rights that are available to Israel are also available to Hamas.

I think not.

As I undertstand it - and correct me if I am wrong - such rights to self defence and pre-emptive strikes are afforded either member states of the UN or parties that have signed up to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

Israel ticks both boxes.

Hamas like every other terror group is neither a member of the UN nor
a party to the Geneva Conventions.

Well, not a member of the UN yet.

that's sophistry Jonathon. in the real world Israel has been facing off against Palestine for 60+ years. We're not talking Geneva convention or Nuclear Non Proliferation here. These are real confrontations with real lives being lost. You argue that Israel has the right to protect itself pre-emptively. That's a justification. it's not a treaty, it's a renationalisation for their actions. If Israel can rationalise its actions by the theory of pre-emption so can the Palestinians. Membership of the UN has nothing to do with it. The US used pre-emption in Iraq. That was not sanctioned by the UN. The US said we don't need the UN. we will do it anyway.
Your blinkered defence of Israel fails to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Palestinian position. This one sided view allows you to justify and rationalise state terrorism against the Palestinians. No amount of "laws" or fancy theorising can disguise this fact.
and there will be no solution as long as Israel continues its unilateral actions which ignores the need to resolve the Palestinian issue.

The author finishes his article with the following;

“So long as the Jewish state remains at risk of Islamic terrorists who refuse to accept an independent Jewish presence in the Middle East and fundamentally dedicate themselves to Jihad as the means of erasing the Jewish state then “targeted killings” will surely continue to be employed as a tool of the IDF.”

Which could just as easily read;

'So long as the future Palestinian state remains at risk of Israeli war criminals who refuse to accept an independent Palestinian presence in the Middle East and fundamentally dedicate themselves to aggression, blockades, targeted assassinations, cross border incursions, illegal settlements, phosphorous rounds, cluster bombs, human shields and the like as the means of erasing any possibility of a future Palestinian state then “rocket fire” will surely continue to be employed as a tool of the armed wing of Hamas.'

Tonight I watched what many thought was to have been one of the last videos out of Syria before their internet was shut down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H40EsEVU1Wk&feature=plcp

It is harrowing footage especially when we see dead and injured children being dug out from rubble by men with bare hands, some of them injured themselves and all in danger of collapsing walls and floors.

These were exactly the kind of scenes that were experienced in Gaza.

The same derision and disgust we have for the Syrian government should be replicated toward the actions of the Israeli government. The terror and misery they continue to inflict must unfailingly lead any rational and caring person to label them both as terrorist states.

Cont...

Cont...

The author proclaims in this thread “The fact is Hamas has fired 12,800 rockets and thousands of other mortar shells at Israel over the past 11 years. Perhaps you would agree that ‘proportionality’ would require the Israelis not to use surgical strikes but instead to fire 12,800 missiles back at the people of Gaza?”

There are few lies put out by those defending the actions of Israel that could be considered more egregious than this. Not only is it demonstrably wrong;

“Between 2005 and 2007, Palestinian groups in Gaza fired about 2,700 locally made Qassam rockets into Israel, killing four Israeli civilians and injuring 75 others. During the same period, Israel fired more than 14,600 155 mm artillery shells into the Gaza Strip, killing 59 Palestinians and injuring 270.”
Wikipedia (note a 155mm artillery shell has nearly three times the lethal radius of a Qassam rocket and far greater accuracy.)

but it is used continually to justify the slaughter of civilians including scores of children.

Hey csteele,

Your selective use of facts would make any statistician proud. You say

“Between 2005 and 2007, Palestinian groups in Gaza fired about 2,700 locally made Qassam rockets into Israel, killing four Israeli civilians and injuring 75 others".

And to boot, you quote Wikipedia.org.

Perhaps if you'd scroll a little down the page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel

you'll see that Gazans have struck over 15,000 times by way of rockets and mortars.

A far cry from the 2005-2007 years you quote.

I regret I understated their violence.

I guess a quick read through the comments shows the futility of trying to argue with Jewish religious fanatics and extremists.

If the Israelis tomorrow carpet-bombed Gaza and killed 500,000 people you would still get a cabal of Jewish fanatics trying to prove that the Palestinians were entirely to blame because they fired a few rockets or used other legitimate means to try to fight against the decades-long, illegal Jewish occupation and blockade.

Religious belief results in a form of insanity and moral blindness and it doesn't matter which religion we are talking about.

When are we going to give up on childish superstitions?