Mr. Bolton did, however, raise a useful analogy that evokes the need to assess laws in the context of strategic imperatives: the Israeli air attacks on the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981 and on a Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007. Both strikes were arguably illegal, since there was no imminent threat to Israel. But we would argue that Israel’s strikes were nevertheless wise, given the longstanding threats against it from dictatorships in Baghdad and Damascus, and the low risk that the attacks would escalate into a war. The attacks could be called, in legal terms, “illegal but legitimate.” Israel could argue that its formal violation of the law should be excused because it saved the world from new nuclear threats from Iraq and Syria.