Proportion Is A Relative Term

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

By Rob on August 2, 2006 at 06:08 am

The next time a critic of Israel denounces their response as "disproportionate," ask them to show a single sign that Hezbollah has shown the slightest restraint, the slightest moderation, in their attacks. That Hezbollah has declared certain targets off limits. That it has abided by the accepted standards of warfare. As long as Israel continues to show its own restraint, there is absolutely no cause for criticizing their level of response.

Read the whole thing.

Does this tick you off? Click here to email your elected representatives right here on Say Anything, or comment below.

Comments

Ken McCracken
2844 comments
Send a private message

Just try to imagine the destruction Hezbollah would wreak if it had the full might of the Israeli military at its disposal.

Can you say . . . genocide?

Ken McCracken on August 2, 2006 at 07:16 am

I’m not quite sure about the logic here.

Hezbollah target civilians, and seek to eradicate the state of Israel. They hide among Lebanese civilians. They murder other muslims for trivial differences of dogma. They are, in short, disgusting.

But why should these facts exempt Israel from criticism (”there is absolutely no cause for criticizing their level of response.”)?

The Nazis conducted warfare with a shocking level of disregard for civilian life. The allies, on the other hand, stuck to received rules of conduct. According to the logic exercised here, however, the allies could behave appallingly, but, as long as their standards were higher than those of the Nazis, there would no legitimate grounds for criticising them.

I don’t buy that.

Mark on August 3, 2006 at 04:41 am

Page 1 of 1