Louis Rene Beres: Israel’s Release of Palestinian Terrorists Would Violate International Law

Louis Rene Beres is a professor of political science and international law at Purdue University.

What sort of people and government would agree to free the murderers of its own children and do it in the name of a presumed "good will" toward irreconcilable enemies? What might this people and government be thinking, especially when its hoped-for quid pro quo is an obvious delusion?

Inconceivably, in Jerusalem, there is evidence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may soon oblige Washington and go along with at least a partial release of Palestinians serving time for perpetrating unspeakable violence against Israelis. Leaving aside that any such release would be unreciprocated, and that both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas would remain committed to Israel's eradication, this contemplated freeing of terrorists would also be inherently illegal.

All countries coexist under a binding law of nations. A core element of this international law is the rule of nullum crimen sine poena, or "no crime without a punishment." An unchanging principle, drawn from the law of ancient Israel, it was reaffirmed for all nations at the historic Nuremberg Trials (1945-46)....