Answering the “Disproportionate” Agrument
Answering the “Disproportionate” Agrument
Palestinians and their allies argue Israeli air strikes in Gaza are unjustified and disproportionate. Already, Gaza has been labeled an Israeli “massacre” and “holocaust.”
Huh? Israel was attacked by peoples seeking that state’s destruction who are governed by an organization dedicated to Israel’s obliteration. (Hamas leader Nizzar Rayyan—killed in an air strike—was quoted saying “Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God.”) As Sigmund, Carl and Alfred says, “There is no such thing as a ‘disproportionate response’ to calls for genocide.”
Others address the measure of proper proportionality, which I may explore in a later post. The issues here are actions and intent: the central distinction of our era is that terrorists target unarmed civilians (or use them as human shields), while those that battle terror spend lives and treasure to minimize collateral damage to innocents.
Five recent columns apply that principle to the Gaza conflict: