Hofstra Law Review Volume 20 | Issue 2 Article 2 1991 On Assassination as Anticipatory Self-Defense: The Case of Israel Louis Rene Beres Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Beres, Louis Rene (1991) "On Assassination as Anticipatory Self-Defense: The asC e of Israel," Hofstra Law Review: Vol. 20: Iss. 2, Article 2. Available at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr/vol20/iss2/2 This document is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hofstra Law Review by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Beres: On Assassination as Anticipatory Self-Defense: The Case of Israel ON ASSASSINATION AS ANTICIPATORY SELF- DEFENSE: THE CASE OF ISRAEL Louis Rend Beres* INTRODUCTION During the next year, Israel's continuing security problems' may compel Jerusalem to decide once again between waiting for its ene- mies to strike first and striking first itself. Judged from a strategic and tactical perspective, the choice of preemption might surely appear rational and cost-effective.2 Significantly, from the standpoint of in- * Professor of International Law, Purdue University Department of Political Science. 1. For detailed information on these problems, see Louis Ren6 Beres, After the Gulf War: Israel, Palestine and the Risk of Nucleai War in the Middle East, STRATEGIC REV., Fall 1991, at 48; Louis Ren6 Beres, The Growing Threat of Nuclear War in the Middle East, JERUSALEM J. INT'L REL., Jan.