The concept that punishment for crimes is not a public but a private matter is ancient and should no longer apply. Both Muslim and Jewish holy books provided for the rule of “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. Under this rule, and let us call it the old rule, the right to punishment is a right to private retribution and it is up to the victim or his heirs, and not to the authorities, to decide whether to demand punishment or to give forgiveness, often for a consideration.

Punishment is a public matter. Penal law should be duly and justly applied regardless of the wishes of the victims or their heirs. Insuring the due application of penal laws through due process in prosecution and trial is one of the cornerstones of the modern rule of law. This is the modern rule.

What has been taking place across the Lebanese southern borders over the past two weeks upholds the old rule and violates the modern rule on an international level in a scary way. You hurt our tooth we will take away one hundred of your teeth, say the belligerents to each other openly day after day. The problem is that the teeth in question belong to innocent civilians, many of whom lose their lives, the only lives they have, instead of simply one tooth.

Crime and punishment should be decided under the modern rule of law, not the old rule. By upholding the rule of law locally and on the international level, with equal application of the law to all, fewer teeth are hurt, especially those of the innocent, underprivileged and vulnerable.

We call for immediately putting a final and irreversible end to the old rule and for upholding the rule of law for all on every possible level of human association.