In July 2002, Israeli Air Force planes bombed a building in Gaza to kill a Hamas leader; fifteen people died. Whatever one thinks about the wisdom of that decision, it’s hard to figure out what this fighting between Hamas and Israel has to do with the island of Manhattan. But that didn’t stop the misnamed Center for Constitutional Rights from suing, in 2005, Israeli government official Avi Dichter in federal court in New York City,

Sensibly, the judge hearing the case, William Pauley dismissed the suit yesterday, determining that the Arab-Israeli conflict would probably not be solved by trial lawyers. But although this case was decided sensibly, it represents yet another attempt by citizens of foreign countries to conduct foreign policy in American courtrooms.

Pauley noted the U.S. government had argued in court papers that the suit, brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights, threatened to involve the courts in policing armed conflicts across the globe, exceeding the role of the courts and intruding on the executive branch’s control over foreign affairs.

If this suit were sustained, it’s hard to see what foreign war couldn’t be fought by trial lawyers in U.S. courts, given that neither the plaintiffs nor the defendant in this case had any connection to the United States.