Proportionality in Conflict
(Updated July 2006)
Israel seeks
peace and is still waiting for leaders
of the Palestinians and the other Arab states
at war with Israel
to step forward and follow the examples of Anwar
Sadat and King
Hussein by ceasing their support for terror and resuming
negotiations. Until that happens, Israel
must take prudent security measures to protect
its citizens.
In responding to the acts
of war perpetrated by Hamas and Hizballah,
Israel has launched a military campaign to
end the threat posed by these two terrorist
groups that have each kidnaped Israeli soldiers
and unleashed a barrage of rockets on the
civilian population of Israel. In prosecuting
the war, Israel has come under fire for using “disproportionate” force,
but how do you determine the proportionate
use of military force?
Since Hizballah’s stated
objective is the destruction of Israel, isn’t
the appropriate response the destruction
of Hizballah?
Wouldn’t
random missile strikes on Lebanese and Palestinian
cities be proportionate to Hamas and Hizballah rocket
attacks on northern and southern Israel?
Can you imagine any of Israel’s critics
accepting those responses?
When Palestinian
terrorists plant bombs at Israeli shopping
malls and kill and maims dozens of civilians,
would the “proportionate response” be
for Israelis to plant bombs in Palestinian
malls? No one in Israel believes this would
be a legitimate use of force. Thus, Israel
is left with the need to take measured action
against specific targets in an effort to
either deter Palestinian violence or stop
it.
What would America do if
terrorists bombed civilian targets? After
9/11, we saw that America took the same
type of action as Israel by launching military
strikes against the terrorists. U.S. forces
used overwhelming force and, though they
never targeted civilians, some were inadvertently
killed. Americans believe in Colin
Powell’s doctrine, which holds that “America
should enter fights with every bit of force
available or not at all.”
The United States uses overwhelming force
against its enemies, even though the threats
are distant and pose no danger to the existence
of the nation or the immediate security of
its citizens. The threat Israel faces is immediate
in time and physical proximity, and poses
a direct danger to Israeli citizens. More
than a thousand rockets have now fallen on
Israel’s
cities, not its military installations, its
civilian centers. Approximately one million
Israelis have fled south or are living in
bomb shelters. Still, Israel has not used
its full might as the Powell Doctrine dictates.
The use of force has been judicious and precise.
Israeli soldiers do not
deliberately target noncombatants. The murder
of innocents is the goal of the Lebanese
and Palestinian
terrorists. In fact, what other army
drops leaflets
to warn people to leave an area they intend
to attack even though it gives up the element
of surprise and allows the bad guys to hide
as well as the innocent to escape?
IDF activities
are governed by an overriding policy of restraint
and a determination to take all possible
measures to prevent harm to innocent civilians.
No innocent Palestinians
or Lebanese would be in any danger if the Palestinian
Authority took steps to stop terrorism and
the Lebanese government had fulfilled the
requirements of UN
Security Council Resolution 1559 calling for the disarming of Hizballah and
the deployment of the Lebanese army in south Lebanon.
Israel would have no reason to take military
action if its citizens were not under constant
threat.
No innocent Palestinians
or Lebanese would be in danger if terrorists
did not deliberately hide among them. If
the peace-seeking Palestinians and Lebanese
prevented the terrorists from living in their
midst, Israel would have no reason to come
to their neighborhoods.
It is a tragedy whenever
innocent lives are lost, and Israelis have
consistently expressed their sadness over
Arab casualties. By contrast, when innocent
Israelis are murdered by terrorists, Hamas and Hizballah hold rallies to celebrate the murders.
As a democracy, when Israeli
soldiers make mistakes in battle, they are
called to account for those errors. On those
occasions when noncombatants are unintentionally
injured, investigations are launched and
the Israeli public debates the military’s
actions.
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