Do Israeli Targeted Killings Comply with High Court of Justice's Guidelines?

Abstract

In December 2006, the Israeli High Court of Justice (HCJ) delivered its ruling in case 769/02, also known as the "targeted killing case." The Court laid out four specific criteria for when a targeted killing might legally be carried out, and imposed two safeguards on the state to assure that each operation complied with these criteria.

We examined the compliance of Israeli post-2006 targeted killings with the HCJ's ruling over Israel's targeted killing policy. We present strong evidence which suggests that Israel complies with the Court's four requirements, but argue that it is unclear whether it complies with the safeguards. In particular, the extent to which the state implements safeguard #1, the independent ex-post targeted killing investigative committee, remains uncertain. The committee's composition and independence has yet to be verified. Moreover, there is no public evidence that the safeguard #2, judicial oversight, has occurred. In addition, we argue that a careful examination of Israeli practice and policy on targeted killing reveal a troubling effort to marginalize the restraints that the HCJ imposed in 2006. Particularly, two landmark points of evolution in Israeli post-2006 targeting practices have significantly reduced the applicability of the HCJ's ruling. Yet there are still circumstances under which the HCJ's framework continues to bind the state of Israel. Therefore, despite some tangible gestures towards implementation, the state's compliance with the safeguards set out in the 2006 targeted killing judgments remain doubtful, especially with regards to the independent ex-post targeted killing investigative committee.

Keywords: Targeted Killing, HCJ 769/02, Israel