and go smash em up

if the threat to act disproportionately is taken seriously and every reasonable person must believe it is then we have a lawful excuse to shut down anyone who supplies them.

The sort of "disproportionate" which is classed as a "war crime" is when in response to the small arms fire of a sniper a battery of artillery responds. The other sort of "disproportionate" where an inexperienced mortar team opens up and is obliterated by that same well trained battery of artillery isn't.

You pick up a rock and throw it at me I shouldn't blow you away with my machine gun. You pull out your pistol and begin firing wildly (not easy to hit somebody with a pistol at 50+ meters) and I blow you waya with that machine gun, you were just being stupid.

"Proportionate" in this case (the war crimes sense) doesn't mean having to give you a fair go. It refers to the SORT of response. It's based on ATTEMPT, not result.

it's got bells on it.

Which kind of disproportionate did Ehud Olmert mean? Hmmmmmm let me think. What would recent history have to say on this matter? Let's have a look at what was deemed to be proportionate over the last month or so shall we?

FRO with your arguments on semantics, 400 dead children and you have the cheek to debate how he's using the word. Shame on you.

Yes, it is a statement of intent to commit a war crime, regardless of the diversionary nitpicking about "which sense of disproportionate" was meant, thus "smashy's" reaction seems entirely reasonable to me.

Threatening to commit a war crime is itself a war crime under the Geneva Conventions and by precident in the ICJ.

"Palestinian lawyers argue that the Palestinian Authority should be allowed to refer the cases in Gaza on this same ad hoc basis – despite its lack of internationally recognised statehood.
The case has wide-reaching ramifications for the Palestinian case for statehood. If the court rejects the case, it will highlight the legal black hole that Palestinians find themselves in while they remain stateless. However, it also underlines some of Israel’s worst fears about a Palestinian state on its borders. A Palestinian state that ratified the Rome treaty would then be able to refer alleged Israeli war crimes to the court without the current legal wrangling. The case could also lead to snowballing international recognition of a Palestinian state by countries eager to see Israel prosecuted. "