Evelyn Gordon, over at Commentary<\/em>‘s Contentions blog, notes the following trend (not for the first time):<\/p>\n

The international response to the Fatah-Hamas unity deal provides yet another example of a troubling development. Alone among the nations, Israel is increasingly denied the protections of the laws of war.<\/p>\n

Thus, for instance, the West denounces Israel\u2019s targeted killings of Hamas leaders even as it correctly deems America\u2019s targeted killing of Al-Qaida\u2019s leader perfectly legitimate (a double standard skewered<\/a> by Alan Dershowitz this week).<\/p>\n

Now the same double standard is being applied to Israel\u2019s suspension of fund transfers to the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. and Europe have both demanded that Israel resume the transfers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She needn’t worry<\/a>.\u00a0 The double standard won’t last long<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt told German TV the operation could have incalculable consequences in the Arab world at a time of unrest there.<\/p>\n

“It was quite clearly a violation of international law,” .<\/p>\n

It was a view echoed by high-profile Australian human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson.<\/p>\n

“It’s not justice. It’s a perversion of the term. Justice means taking someone to court, finding them guilty upon evidence and sentencing them,” Robertson told Australian Broadcasting Corp television from London.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hey, they don’t call them kangaroo courts<\/a> for nothing:<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Angela Merkel<\/a> is facing a criminal complaint from a labor judge in Hamburg for saying she\u2019s \u201chappy\u201d that U.S. forces managed to kill al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, Hamburger Morgenpost reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Judge Heinz Uthmann, 54, who\u2019s served at Hamburg\u2019s labor court for 21 years, claims the chancellor acted illegally by approving of criminal offences, the newspaper said, citing an interview with Uthmann. The judge, who said he was acting as a law-abiding citizen, asked prosecutors to investigate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Those of us who seek to preserve Israel’s freedom to act in practice, and not merely in theory, are also looking to preserve the moral and diplomatic basis for our own latitude to do so.
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