Israel Claims to Be Above the Law

The title of this post links to a story on The Real News Network regarding the Israeli attack on the ships trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. Here is a brief quote from that story....

The Israeli deputy foreign minister is Danny Ayalon. He works under Avigdor Lieberman. According to him, it doesn't matter that the operation took place in international waters, because Israel is above international law. In response to the fact that Israel couldn't declare international waters as its own closed military zone, he said, "These accusations have no basis in reality nor in legality. Our judgments and needs overbear any other. The decision to stop the flotilla was the right one." [emphasis added]

It's neither new nor surprising for a nation to disregard international law. But as far as I know, only two nations publicly claim that international law does not apply to them: Israel and the USA. This may be worth thinking about for a few minutes during the weeks between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July....