Drug trafficking is also one of those offenses recognized in the Penal Law as offenses "against the law of the peoples." This is in light of the existence of a convention to which Israel is a party of June 18, 2002, which prohibits drug trafficking, and I am referring to the United Nations Convention against the Illicit Trade in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, which was signed in Vienna in 1988. In the wording of the Penal Law, prior to Amendment 39, drug offenses were explicitly listed as "offenses against humanity" (in section 4 of the law. On the relationship between the Penal Law and the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance [New Version] in this context, see Criminal Appeal 7230/96 Anonymous, supra [22], at p. 536). The inclusion of the offense of trafficking in this bundle of offenses, as then as it is now, will also attest to the extreme severity attributed to the drug offenses and the awareness of the need for international cooperation in dealing with them legally.
One of the practical expressions of the application of the principles outlined above is the power to order, to the extent that the circumstances justify it, and this is made possible by law, on the extradition of drug offenders to and from the State of Israel. This was noted by Justice Bach, who discussed the case of an Israeli criminal network that operated to smuggle large quantities of drugs into the United States:
"Organized crime gangs are becoming more sophisticated every year; With the help of telexes, faxes and other means of communication, distances and boundaries lose their meaning and importance. For this reason, there is a need to be aware of the danger that the lack of such cooperation [between countries - A, A, and L], as aforesaid, is liable to lead to the failure and thwarting of preventive and combating international crimes. One of the ways in which this cooperation can find expression is through the mutual extradition of offenders" (Miscellaneous Criminal Applications 3547/93 Zalmanovich v. State of Israel [41], July 15, 1993, para. 5).