State Department Legal Experts Say Israel Was Justified in Operation

State Department legal experts, U.S. officials said today, have determined that Israel’s rescue operation in Uganda was justifiable under international law and that consequently, the use of U.S.-made military transports and other equipment in carrying out the operation was not a violation of the terms of the Foreign Military Sales Act under which Israel had received the equipment.

The Department lawyers began studying the legal ramifications of the Uganda operation last week, shortly after the mission that rescued over 100 hostages of the hijacked Air France jet was accomplished. Their findings are expected to be used by U.S. Ambassador William Scranton when he states the American position on the Uganda action during the current Security, Council debate.

In a related development, Adrian Fisher, a former legal advisor to the State Department, said in the current issue of the U.S. News and World Report magazine that Israel’s rescue operation was justified in terms of international law under the doctrine of reprisal. Fisher, now a professor of international law at Georgetown University, said the doctrine “holds that a country has the right to take reasonable actions to redress a violation of its own rights.” He added that the rescue operation was warranted because the Air France passengers were basically hostages of Uganda.