We’ve received a lot of mail recently about arguments of proportionality in warfare. Today we found an interesting piece in The New Republic by Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus at the Insitute for Advanced Study at Princeton University (who’s been doing this type of political philosophy for a while), on this very discussion.  He also notes the questions that should guide our discussion of proportionality, as well as some unintended outcomes of that discussion.
An excerpt:

Let’s talk about proportionality–or, more important, about its negative form. “Disproportionate” is the favorite critical term in current discussions of the morality of war. But most of the people who use it don’t know what it means in international law or in just war theory.

For more, see here.

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The New Republic over the past few days, has published a few thoughtful articles about what the end of Operation “Cast Lead” might mean. For now, we’ll note two pieces for your consideration.

The first article is by Martin Peretz; it’s from two days ago but is still quite relevant to the present circumstances.  In discussing a cessation of fire, he notes, it must be made clear that Hamas will have to stop the rocket fire on Israel, and that assent by the Palestinian Authority to any measure will not necessarily bind Hamas to anything.  An excerpt:

As I write, there is news that a cease fire may (or may not) be dawning over Gaza. Apparently, even if it is, it will be between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Hamas announced that it will not submit to a permanent truce. But if Nicholas Sarkozy, the prime broker in the arrangement, and Hosni Mubarak, who has also played a constructive role (and one very hostile to Hamas) since the fighting began, are to be believed, the terms of the truce assure that the jihadists will be kept from both shelling and rearming. These are Angela Merkel’s terms, as well.

See here for the rest of the article.

In the second, Bernard-Henri Levy argues that the Palestinian people will face a number of serious choices on the “day after.”  They will have to decide whether they want to negotiate with Israel or whether they want to keep on with senseless fighting trying to destroy their neighbors.  An excerpt:

Either Hamas leaders re-establish the truce that they broke, and, while they’re at it, declare null and void a charter founded on the pure rejection of the “Zionist Entity”: In doing so, they will rejoin the vast party for compromise that has not ceased–God be praised–to make progress in the region, and peace will be established. Or they will only, obstinately, consider the suffering of Palestinian civilians in terms of its fueling of their annealed passions, their insane hate, nihilistic, beyond words. And if that is the case, it is not only the Israelis, but the Palestinians, who will need to be liberated from Hamas’ somber shadow.

For more, see here.

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From CBS News:

According to the Israeli Army, over 11,000 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into Israeli in the past 8 years; for many this has created a siege mentality. Richard Roth reports.

Watch CBS Videos Online

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(Communicated by the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson)

The Israel Foreign Ministry today instructed its Ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, to submit a letter to the UN Secretary General and the President of the Security Council in the wake of the firing of rockets from Lebanon this morning. continue reading…

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This YouTube video (below) seems to address some of the questions we’ve received lately:

1. Why is Israel attacking civilians in Gaza?
2. How can this be a just fight if more than 600 Palestinians have been killed as opposed to about 10 Israelis?
3. What about the idea of proportionality in war?
4. Should Israeli soldiers shoot even when civilians are in range?
5. Hamas is an elected government. Is Israel trying to overthrow a democracy?

For the answers, see the following:

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Throughout the current operations, the IDF has worked to minimize the hardship to Gaza’s civilian population.  One of the ways of doing so has been through direct appeals, which have taken three forms: leaflets dropped over Gaza, phone calls, and radio messages.

Copies of the leaflets and recordings of the messages can be found on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement regarding Israel’s operations in Gaza:

“For months – even before it officially violated the so-called cease-fire – the terrorist organization Hamas has been relentlessly firing missiles into Israel from Gaza, spreading terror, inflicting damage, and killing innocent civilians. No country would be expected to sit on its hands and simply allow its citizens to endure these kinds of vicious attacks without retaliating against the responsible party. I strongly support Israel’s right to self-defense and its decision to go after Hamas in response to the unyielding and increasingly far-reaching missile attacks. We all want peace in Gaza and hope that it will come very soon, but peace cannot be achieved so long as Hamas continues missile attacks. If a just and lasting cease-fire is to occur, it is incumbent upon Hamas to immediately and permanently halt all attacks against the Israeli people. As for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, I believe the United States and other countries can and should play a role in helping civilians in Gaza meet their basic needs through international assistance – without interference from Hamas – and I believe Israel has taken the right action with temporarily halts in military operations and creation of a humanitarian corridor to allow civilian aid into Gaza.”

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The UN Security Council has been discussing Gaza in recent days in an attempt to find a means of addressing the situation through diplomatic channels. Below is a statement from the Israeli Ambassador, Gabriela Shalev, to the Security Council, given on Tuesday, 06 January. continue reading…

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Terrorists fired rockets at the northern Israeli town of Nahariya this morning, injuring several senior citizens eating breakfast in the dining hall of their retirement home. While no group has yet taken responsibility for the rocket fire, there are relatively few options. Yoav Stern analyzes those possibilities in Haaretz today, and discusses the option that Iran is trying to widen the war on Israel.
An excerpt:

Several days before Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called several of his European counterparts and warned that Israel would face additional fronts if it attacked.
The rocket fire on Thursday morning from Lebanon into northern Israel can be seen as the realization of the Iranian threat.

The rest of the article can be found here.

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NYC Mayor Bloomberg visited Israel this past Sunday and had this to say to CNN:

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