--Is It Legitimate to Kill a Head of State?
Gideon Levy June 22, 2025Is it legitimate to discuss assassinating the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? Is it legitimate to kill a head of state, except in the rarest of cases? If so, which head of state is a legitimate target and which is not, and who decides? Who is to say that Khamenei may be assassinated but Benjamin Netanyahu may not? That Vladimir Putin may be killed, but not Donald Trump? Which of these poses a greater danger to the world? It's all in the eye of the beholder.
Which scientists may be killed? Iranian nuclear scientists, yes, Israeli nuclear scientists, no? On what basis? Both groups are scientists in the service of the most monstrous industry of killing. This naturally leads to the question of whether one country has the right to nuclear weapons while another does not.
After all, the level of danger a country poses can change. Iran was not always a dangerous country, and Israel will not always be an undangerous country. There are already plenty of crazy politicians in Israel who pose a risk to the entire region. Would it be legitimate to entrust them with the secret code? Would it be legitimate to assassinate them?
These questions are exceedingly charged; Israel avoids discussing them and fudges the answers, citing the sacred argument: "How can you even compare?" Israel cannot be compared to any entity in the world. Yigal Amir, who assassinated former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, believed that Rabin posed an existential threat to the state of Israel. There aren't many Israelis who think this gave Amir license to murder the prime minister.
Now Israel thinks Khamenei is an existential threat, and therefore it is permitted to murder him: "Murder" is the correct word here, the most precise. If we set aside the assumption that Israel invented for itself, according to which it is permitted to do what is prohibited to the rest of the world, it is very difficult to address these questions. The claim that Israel is a special case, because to us all is permitted, because we are survivors of the Holocaust and of the October 7 massacre, does not hold water. The world is also beginning to tire of it. The answer to these questions must be universal.
Israel invokes a comparison between Khamenei and Hitler to justify the impending assassination. It is clear that Hitler had to be eliminated, but Khamenei is not Hitler. Israel claims it refrains from harming civilians. Khamenei is a civilian, not the chief of staff or a general. We can also set aside momentarily the issue of legitimacy and ask whether it is wise to kill him.
The war in Iran is on the verge of becoming complicated. Yaniv Kubovich reported that Israeli military officials are suddenly saying that Israel cannot be subject to a timeframe. This is how one begins to sink into the swamp. Assassinating Khamenei would only make things worse.
Meanwhile, the defense minister is playing God. In this capacity, Israel Katz announced that Khamenei cannot be allowed to "continue to exist." What are Katz's criteria for being allowed "to exist"? He decides who shall live and who shall die? A heavenly court led by a laughable Israeli cabinet member? Is Iran's defense minister allowed to threaten his Israeli counterpart with murder?
Defense Minister Israel Katz speaking at the Knesset.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
The talking heads in Israeli news studios speak about the "scientists' hunt" in Iran, perhaps an allusion to the Mossad's hunting of German scientists in Egypt in the 1960s. Terminology does matter, and it is as vile as the defense minister's breath. One does not "hunt" scientists, because they are not animals (the hunting of which is also horrific), even if they are Iranian.
Calls for the assassination of heads of state are not legitimate from any party. Our Netanyahu is now responsible for the killing of tens of thousands in Gaza. Is it permissible to call for his assassination in order to save the remnants of the nation there? Many Israelis also think he is a tyrant, that he is destroying the country and ruining Israeli democracy, that he is the most despicable Jew in history and a host of other insults – yet no one, it must be hoped, even imagines discussing his assassination.
The discussion about eliminating Khamenei opens the door to legitimacy: From now on, it is permissible to assassinate heads of state. The only thing still up for debate is who is a legitimate target and who is not. Israelis are not.
Salon mailing list
Salon@listserve.com
https://mlm2.listserve.net/mailman/listinfo/salon