The Fifth Amendment states clearly that “No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law…” The United States is the first nation in history that made it unlawful for the Executive branch of government ever to take a life on its own discretion.

• To kill in war, the Executive branch must receive authorization to use the American people’s defensive military for the purpose of fighting a declared war.
• To kill as punishment for crimes, a jury of citizens must find guilt on the basis of evidence, and all legal remedies must be exhausted, before the Executive branch can take a life.

The Declaration of Independence and the The Bill of Rights recognize the universal and unalienable right to life and to living free from state terror and violence. The Ninth Amendment clarifies that all human rights are protected without exception, even if not written into law.

In Israel and Palestine, the United States has a legally binding responsibility to honor those foundational prohibitions forbidding the taking of innocent life.

The mass murder of October 7, 2023—including all of the horrific atrocities that have been documented as well as the kidnappings and intentional psychological torture of civilians—is an inexcusable crime against humanity. Every person linked to those atrocities by any means must forever lose all political legitimacy and be held legally accountable for crimes against humanity.

Every person and every leader in every nation has the same moral and legal obligation to stand by that clear mandate for the defense of human rights, life, and dignity.

Every time a civilian is killed by combat operations or by terrorist attack, that person is a victim of a crime against all of humankind. Lawful and just combat operations can never be allowed to take innocent life or to act with reckless cruelty toward civilian populations.

Under the Geneva Conventions, all people in armed conflict, and especially commanders and political leaders, have an inescapable legally binding responsibility to act to prevent any harm to civilians. This requirement is absolute and universal. It is an extension of the core truth that opens the Declaration of Independence.

It is unacceptable for operations supported by any means by the U.S. government to lead to civilian deaths, the dismemberment of children, the destruction of hospitals, the killing of press or other witnesses, or the incineration of humanitarian aid and the people delivering it. Such acts are atrocities, and the U.S. and its allies have a legally binding duty to avoid and prevent such atrocities and to hold accountable all who commit them.