Posted on 12/31/2008 8:24:58 AM PST by ventanax5
Moving beyond the question of international law, the charge that Israel is using a disproportionate amount of force in the Gaza Strip because of reports of Palestinian casualties has to be looked at critically. Israelis have often said among themselves over the last seven years that when a Hamas rocket makes a direct strike on a crowded school, killing many children, then Israel will finally act.
This scenario raises the question of whether the doctrine of proportionality requires that Israel wait for this horror to occur, or whether Israel could act on the basis of the destructive capability of the arsenal Hamas already possesses, the hostile declarations of intent of its leaders, and its readiness to use its rocket forces already. Alan Dershowitz noted two years ago: "Proportion must be defined by reference to the threat proposed by an enemy and not by the harm it has produced." Waiting for a Hamas rocket to fall on an Israeli school, he rightly notes, would put Israel in the position of allowing "its enemies to play Russian Roulette with its children."13
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
I certainly hope so!
Not if we are still getting televised reporting from Gaza.
I’m a firm believer of pounding tacks with a sledge hammer. But hey, that’s just me.
Israel needs to step it up!
Proportional response must take into consideration the capability of the agressor. If 95% of Hamas’ total capacity is being used to fire rockets at Israel, it can be reasoned that a similar proportion of force will be used when Hamas has more lethal means at its disposal. War is a defensive necessity in this case - the wolf will only get bigger, meaner, and hungrier.
When you are under deadly assault, you are under no obligation to be gentle with your attacker!
The attacker assumes all responsiblilty for any harm to the civilians he might hide behind.
It is a war crime to use civilians as shields, not to mention attacking civilians in the first place!
They should kill one Palistinian terrorist for every rocket launched and 100 for every Jew killed by those rocket attacks.
The Hamas rockets have been plentiful but relatively ineffective. However, if they had been accurate and therefore effective, large numbers of Israelis would have been killed. The intent is, and has been, to try to kill as many as possible. Isn’t the intent what matters when we speak about “disproportionate”, or the actual result?
MSM created term to gain sympathy for the Palis...
“Proportionality” in warfare is just a slick way of tying the hands or the more powerful combatant. It’s an appeal to a sort of fairness that has never really existed in combat.
No such thing as “disproportionate force” when you are defending yourself against someone trying to wipe you off the face of the map.
You’d be pretty darn stupid NOT to use every ounce you have at your disposal.
*Note, the best way is to simply kill them all, then there is no-one left to consider a subsequent attack.
The term “Proportional response” is BS. If a bully slaps you, are you just going to slap him back or are you going to take him out? “Proportional response” is used by politicians to drag out a conflict and nothing more. Would we use “Proportional response” if we were attacked by Mexico or Canada? I don’t think so. If you shoot at me with a .22, I will come back at you with the biggest weapon I own.....simple as that. We need to stop kidding ourselves.
At Pearl Harbor Japan sank some battleships and killed a couple thousand Americans. According to Israel’s critics, we should have stopped our attacks when we had inflicted similar losses on Japan.
I agree with this and am disgusted by the attempt to characterize the Hamas missiles as somehow too inferior or not destructive enough to warrant Israeli reprisals.
Why should anyone play tit-for-tat games and let an enemy continue to injure and kill their citizens? To keep the fight fair? Ha! A fair fight means a fair chance of losing. In a fight where lives are on the line, a fair fight is the last thing I want. Sucker-punch them, squash a fly with a sledge, whatever euphemism you like. When it is life and death, you play to win, period. If that means it isn't a fair fight, then they shouldn't have engaged you in the first place, they were stupid.
Copy that!.
If someone points a firearm at me at close range and still misses, I should not be responsible for providing him with a free firearm safety course and shooting lessons just to allow the next time to have a successful outcome for him at my expense.
I also value my life more than that of some miscreant who wished to end mine with a second try.
The "Proportionality Doctrine" does nothing but prolong the conflict and extend the suffering.
If one side can decisively win the conflict quickly, it should be done. Medea Benjamin, Hollywood, the U.N., most Democrats, and other anti-semite, anti-American, pro-terrorist entities be damned.
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