In the course of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) use the term "focused foiling" (Hebrew: סיכול ממוקד ‎ sikul memukad) against those it considers proven to have intentions of performing a specific act of violence in the very near future or to be linked indirectly with several acts of violence (organizing, planning, researching means of destruction etc), thus raising the likelihood that his or her assassination would disrupt similar activities in the future. The Israeli army maintains that it pursues such military operations to prevent imminent attacks when it has no discernible means of making an arrest or foiling such attacks by other methods. On December 14, 2006, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that targeted killing is a legitimate form of self-defense