What is "Proportionate" as Israel Aims to Destroy Hamas?
Hamas terror and why Israel must avoid the trap laid by the perpetrator
No words can adequately describe the egregious and inexcusable horrors that were inflicted on the people of Israel last weekend. It was cruel savagery at its most extreme … They were designed to induce terror, not just among the immediate victims and their families but in the entire Jewish population, and indeed, in Jews everywhere in the world. Hence they are rightly called terrorists, and the media should use that word without hesitation …
Terrorism has a theory behind it, and it does its work by deranging those it terrorises and causing in them a profound emotional need for retribution and revenge. The greater the terror, the greater the need to respond, and that way, so the theory goes, the victims can be turned into perpetrators themselves. And then the terrorist can walk away, saying, “There are two sides to this conflict” and, “They are as bad as we are”. Talk of vengeance has it place, as an emotional antidote to terror and the panic it can cause. But vengeance is a bad counsellor in framing military policy.
Scripture is not irrelevant in this context. Deuteronomy 32: 35 is one of many sources for the famous phrase “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord,” and Proverbs 20: 22 cautions “Do not say, ‘I will repay evil’; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.” That is where wisdom lies. It means seeing the clever trap that Hamas has laid, and not falling into it ... A sense of guilt may explain the most aggressive of the statements from Israeli political and military leaders, for instance that Gaza is under total siege and neither food nor water, fuel nor medicine, will be allowed to cross its boundaries.
Israel has a solemn obligation under international law ... to protect the well-being of any civilian population under its jurisdiction. It cannot use starvation as a weapon. It surely knows this. The same protection applies to military action to “root out Hamas”, either by aerial bombardment or by actual invasion by IDF ground forces. The Israeli government may claim its military actions are designed to safeguard civilians in Gaza, but “proportionality” is almost impossible to judge, not least when Hamas is so fully integrated into Gaza society. What response is proportionate to the gross outrages Hamas has already committed, and who is to say? Arguably, there are no such limits. Can Hamas be eliminated without a huge loss of innocent life? And in any military operation, how are the lives of Hamas’ hostages to be protected? …
Far from being mindless, there are signs that Hamas’ brutal attack on Israeli civilians had a calculated geopolitical purpose. The Arab world has been moving slowly step by step towards the normalisation of its relations with Israel. In a policy initiated by Donald Trump and continued by Joe Biden, the so-called Abraham Accords have so far brought on board a series of Gulf states, and are even the subject of conversations with Saudi Arabia. Iran, Hamas’ sponsor, is Saudi Arabia’s main adversary in the region. Trying to wreck those talks, for instance by provoking an Israeli overreaction and making the Palestinians look even more like Israel’s victims, may well have been a motive for the coordinated terrorist attacks of last weekend.
This article appeared on the American site First Things some twenty years ago. Please note that the author is a rabbi, not a Christian scholar or a priest, and First Things is not some extremist publication. It's reasonable to assume the attitude the author strikes is representative of the Jewish outlook on this issue. It is very different from the Christian perspective, something that often goes unrealized in what used to be called Christendom.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.firstthings.com/article/2003/02/the-virtue-of-hate
Are you saying that the Israeli response to Hamas is being driven by hatred?
DeleteNo. HE'S saying it.
DeleteTo clarify, I'm saying that the article in the Tablet, and the advice it contains, is based on a Christian worldview, and that worldview is significantly different from the Jewish worldview.
DeleteThe article really doesn't address those issues - it's more concerned with the geopolitical wisdom of responding in a calculated manner. Besides, what would you suggest the Israelis do? They accept just-war principles. How should these be applied?
DeleteThe Tablet article mentions the Iran connection in the last paragraph. I’m sure they’ve got it right. The atrocities were carefully planned in advance, in cold blood, with the intention of provoking Israel into a fury of revenge in which a hurried, unplanned punitive raid into the Gaza Strip would result in thousands of casualties. The propaganda effect would be more than sufficient to torpedo the peace talks with Saudi Arabia.
ReplyDeleteBut that’s not what happened. Israel is taking its time. I have no idea what form the military operation will take, when it comes, but I think we can now be fairly confident it will be effective at both levels, targeting Hamas while minimising the suffering inflicted on the population at large.
When you read what took place, it's clear that Hamas had help and funding. And that probably came from Iran. My big concern is that what Israel is currently embarked upon, whilst understandable, will in the long term be counterproductive and ultimately futile. They need to find a way of stopping the funding and support Iran is giving and that is going to be a lot more difficult.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment they risk giving the anti Israel mob a propaganda victory.
Hamas and their cheerleaders will claim the murders and rapes, the children killed are all Israeli lies, to enable the 'brutal' attack on a defenceless and peaceful Gazza.It's happening already.
Israel says it has killed two senior Hamas personnel, named as Merad Abu Merad, the head of the Hamas aerial system, and Ali Qadi, who was a commander in last Saturday's terrorist attack..
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-army-says-killed-two-hamas-commanders-who-led-attack-2023-10-14/
Yes I saw that. I can't say I'm sorry. However I'm not sure what difference it will make long term
ReplyDeleteWell, it's a start. And apparently, to judge from the brief reports I've seen, without harming any noncombatants.
Deletehttps://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2023/10/fascism-in-the-west-to-enable-genocide-in-palestine/
ReplyDeleteThroughout Europe there is a massive gap between the Zionist unanimity of the politicians and the much greater understanding of the Palestinian situation among the general public.
This is possibly the most significant sentence in the post. The Jewish state (and this is what it calls itself, It's not me invoking that description) is tearing Europe asunder because it is based on a racially supremicist doctrine and it absolutely demands the support of western governments, which it is receiving. The people of Europe, on the other hand, particularly the French, are simply not swallowing it. They've had enough of this garbage and they're done making apologies for feeling that way.
You think this is accurate:
Delete"The UK and the US are both sending military assistance to Israel to commit a calculated and deliberate act of genocide, which is already underway ... Now they have come to the final genocide for which zionism has always aimed, they face a good deal of popular resistance."
And this is just not true:
"You can go out in the streets of the UK with an Israeli flag and yell that you want every Palestinian to be cleansed from Gaza. That is not illegal. If you say the Palestinians have a right to resist their genocide, that is illegal."
Nor is this:
"The European Commission has been ferociously zionist and gung-ho for this Palestinian genocide."
Not to mention this:
"We are witnessing almost all western governments deliberately facilitating massacre, ethnic cleansing and genocide. We are witnessing almost all western governments turning on their own people to crush dissent at that complicity in genocide."
Yes.
DeleteSo, what would you suggest the Israelis do in this situation?
Delete@Jack, your last question has been left unanswered for two whole days, so here’s my answer. At this moment (17 October, 7:00 p.m. Jerusalem time) I would cut the territory of the Gaza Strip in two, with the dividing line somewhere in the uninhabited marshy area adjoining the Wadi Gaza.
DeleteThe northern half I would leave as is for the time being, with Hamas still in control. I would annex the southern half, fully integrating it as Israeli territory. The whole population in that half — including the hundreds of thousands who have made the great trek south in the last few days — will be offered full Israeli citizenship with immediate effect.
I would call in Mansour Abbas (the Knesset member, not the unrelated Mahmoud Abbas who is the head of the PLO) and put him in charge of day-to-day administration in the newly incorporated territory, to reassure the new batch of Arab Israelis that their rights will be fully guaranteed.
Meanwhile, the network of tunnels in the southern half will be carefully explored. No rush! Any lurking Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists can surrender or, if they prefer, can simply stay underground for as long as they care to.
What does Jack think? Is it a workable plan?
HJ is no diplomat and this one needs the wisdom of Solomon!
DeleteHe wouldn't recommend any land annexation or occupation - this would trigger a pan-Arab response and escalate the war. The focus should be on the elimination of Hamas.
There's no rush for a land invasion and Israel should continue to advocate for civilians to leave north Gaza and head south. Humanitarian assistance for the displaced should be negotiated and time given for hospitals in the north to evacuate. Hamas will oppose all these moves as they want to portray Israel in the worse possible light and they want to shelter behind civilians and the sick. They have bases in hospitals, schools and residential areas. They will also use the hostages as a means to weaken an Israeli response.
Once the north is as clear as it can be of civilians, the ground invasion should aim to destroy Hama weapons, tunnels and the terrorists.
HJ can't see any resolution of this without destruction and many deaths and greater instability in the area - which is what Hamas intends.
Biden will be there tomorrow, for separate talks with the Israelis in Jerusalem and the Arabs in Amman. A top-level visit of that kind will presumably produce an important announcement of some kind. I have a hunch we're going to see a pretty big political shakeup.
ReplyDeleteDon't holdyour breath, Ray!
DeleteDo either side actually want a 'two state' resolution?
No! The Arab states would never stand for it!
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not expecting anything quite as radical as that. Just some big shift empowering Israel to do something about terrorist activities in the Gaza Strip.
HJ suspects the 'Final Showdown' between Jews/Judaism and Arabs/Islam will come over possession of the Temple Mount.
DeleteFor Jews and Arabs their sense of national and religious identity is enmeshed with possession of the land of Palestine/Israel and, in particular, the Temple Mount. For Judaism the ‘Mount of the House of the Holy’ and for Islam the ‘Noble Sanctuary’. Some Arab-Muslims deny a Jewish connection with the Temple Mount; some Jews deny its importance for Islam. There's a growing movement in Israel to rebuild the Temple. It's a flash-point. Then there's 'Dispensationalist Christians' who are pushing for the construction of a Third Temple.
All in all, a Gordian knot.
Biden cancels visit to Jordan.
DeleteThe White House said Joe Biden will no longer travel to Jordan as part of his trip.
Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, said earlier that Jordan was no longer holding a planned summit with the US president and the Egyptian and Palestinian leaders that was scheduled to take place in Amman tomorrow.
Safadi, speaking to Al Jazeera, said the summit was cancelled because “there is no use in talking now about anything except stopping the war”.
Truth and lies - what to believe?
ReplyDeleteJeremy Corbyn:
"Israeli air strikes have hit Al Ahli hospital in Gaza. More than 500 people - patients, doctors & those sheltering - have been killed.
What unspeakable horror. We will mourn their loss forever.
Our leaders could have spoken up for peace. They chose to cheer on war instead.
When will they demand an end to these atrocious war crimes? How many Palestinian lives will it take to call for these indiscriminate killings to stop?
Please, for the sake of humanity, raise your voice for an immediate ceasefire. The existence of the Palestinian people is at stake."
Israeli President, Isaac Herzog:
"An Islamic Jihad missile has killed many Palestinians at a Gazan hospital, a place where lives should be saved.
Shame on the media who swallow the lies of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, broadcasting a 21st century blood libel around the globe.
Shame on the vile terrorists in Gaza who wilfully spill the blood of the innocent.
Never before has the choice been clearer. Israel is standing against an enemy made of pure evil. If you stand for humanity — for the value of all human life — you stand with Israel."
Sooner or later, I suppose we'll know for certain which of the two versions is the truth. In the meantime, it's worth bearing in mind that the anti-Israeli militants in the Gaza Strip have often used hospitals and schools as human shields.
DeleteJoe Biden, in a joint press conference in Tel Aviv with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Washington would provide Israel with everything it needed to defend itself, while appearing to accept Israel’s assertion that a blast at a hospital in Gaza had been caused by a failed Palestinian rocket launch.
DeleteBiden said Hamas was worse than Islamic State for its killings of Israeli civilians in the surprise attack on 7 October which the president characterised as “slaughter”. He said Hamas “committed evils and atrocities that make Isis somewhat more rational”.
He said he was “sad and outraged” by an explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, which Hamas said killed hundreds of people.
“Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you. But there’s a lot of people out there not sure, so we’ve got to overcome a lot of things,” Biden told the Israeli PM.
Poor choice of words in "other team". This isn't a football match when one keeps a score!