During the European conquest of North America the same thing happened with Native Americans. Only those who have invaded and institutionalised their laws can have ‘the right to defend themselves’. So did a whole legal apparatus designed to legalise the theft of land and the right of the thieves. They acted as if the difference between how many were killed by the Indigenous people and how many the Australian settlers killed was unimportant. They acted as if the only thing that mattered was the right to ‘retaliate’: "they are attacking us and they have killed some of us and we have the right to defend ourselves."

Source: The North Africa Journal May 19, 2021 13:27 UTC