• "Your presence in Syria is illegal, you exploit the humanitarian issue for your own purposes" - Moscow to Washington
• German Parliament law experts brand US-led airstrike on Syria illegal

Israel's attacks on Hizbullah and Iranian units and installations in Syria, as well as against Syria itself, are claimed by Israel to be 'anticipatory self-defense' under UN Charter Article 51. But 'anticipatory self-defense' could only be claimed when attacks against Israel were imminent. That case has not been made. The Israeli attacks are thus 'pre-emptive self defense' which is not an accepted doctrine of International Law.

The service was not asked for an opinion on Turkey's incursion into Syria but it notes that claims of 'self defense', as Turkey makes in its fight against Kurdish entities in Syria, are often abuses for Geo-strategic purposes.

So far the Scientific Services opinion.

The given legal arguments are not new. Other have long reasoned along the same lines and came to the same results.

But Germany is a partner of the U.S. coalition of the willing against ISIS. Its military has flown reconnaissance missions from Turkey and Jordan in support of the U.S. operation under the same legal argument the U.S. made. The German parliament is now unlikely to renew the mandate for the anti-ISIS operation. Other countries will likely follow and end their participation in the U.S. coalition.

While this is will not change the situation on the ground in Syria it does change the international political atmosphere. It also 'rehabilitates' the Syrian government in the European public eye as it can no longer be depicted as an 'enemy.'

• Trump nominates conservative Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court
• MSNBC & CNN demand Dems 'rise up' to keep Trump from appointing Supreme Court justice

• Sweden reluctantly approves construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Northern Europe
• US about to slap disobedient European firms with sanctions over Nord Stream 2 project
• Pipeline penalties? Trump may threaten Germany, Russia with sanctions on Nord Stream 2 project
• Russia ready to build Nord Stream 3 & provide Europe with as much gas as it needs
• EU will neither approve nor stop Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Europe

A group of more than 40 human rights activists have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice, demanding the cessation of Israeli arms exports to Ukraine.

They argue that these weapons serve forces that openly espouse a neo-Nazi ideology and cite evidence that the right-wing Azov militia, whose members are part of Ukraine's armed forces, and are supported by the country's ministry of internal affairs, is using these weapons.

An earlier appeal to the Defense Ministry was met with no response.

The ministry's considerations in granting export licenses for armaments are not disclosed to the public, but it appears that the appearance of Israeli weapons in the hands of avowed neo-Nazis should be a consideration used in opposing the granting of such a license.

Nevertheless, this is not the first time in which the defense establishment is arming forces that embrace a national socialist ideology.

In the past, Israel has armed anti-Semitic regimes, such as the generals' regime in Argentina, which murdered thousands of Jews in camps while its soldiers stood in watchtowers guarding the abducted prisoners with their Uzi submachine guns.

Israel has also armed Nazis, such as the war criminal Klaus Barbie in Bolivia. In the case of Ukraine forces using Israeli weapons are openly stating their support for racist and anti-Semitic ideas, in various publications.

The Azov militia was established in Ukraine following the Russian invasion of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. The militia's emblems are well-known national socialist ones. Its members use the Nazi salute and carry swastikas and SS insignias.

As we detailed previously Azov militia members sport fascist symbols from the World War II era and their founder and chief patron, Andriy Biletsky - also a prominent member of Ukrainian parliament - has openly declared that the goal of his group is to "lead the White Races of the world in a struggle for their survival." He's recently pushed to ban "race mixing" in the Ukrainian parliament.

There was so much bad publicity surrounding the Azov Battalion over the past years that Congress unanimously passed legislation forbidding any aid to the group - a provision, as this piece by Joseph Epstein in the Daily Beast pointed out long ago, was ultimately meaningless as is was essentially unenforceable:

"In an interview with The Daily Beast, Sgt. Ivan Kharkiv of the Azov battalion talks about his battalion's experience with U.S. trainers and US volunteers quite fondly, even mentioning US volunteers engineers and medics that are still currently assisting them. He also talks about the significant and active support from the Ukrainian diaspora in the US As for the training they have and continue to receive from numerous foreign armed forces. Kharkiv says 'We must take knowledge from all armies... We pay for our mistakes with our lives.'

"Those US officials involved in the vetting process obviously have instructions to say that US forces are not training the Azov Battalion as such. They also say that Azov members are screened out, yet no one seems to know precisely how that's done. In fact, given the way the Ukrainian government operates, it's almost impossible."

Yes, an unfortunate yet familiar theme: your tax dollars funded the arming, training, and feeding of neo-Nazis in Ukraine. That's what we bought into when Washington decided to launch a regime change operation in that bedraggled corner of southeastern Europe. Your money has also long gone toward propping up the country's war-stricken economy - albeit not before corrupt government officials rake their cut off the top.

And now it appears the Israeli public and rights groups are wising up to the Israeli government's longtime partnership with Washington in propping up fascist Ukrainian paramilitary groups.