by Dennis Wright

Israel’s military action in recent days, seeking to stem the rain of missiles from Gaza aimed at Israeli towns, has attracted criticism from the EU and the UN on the grounds of proportionality. They did both also call for the cessation of the missile fire into Israel.

The EU’s words:

“The Presidency condemns the recent disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) against the Palestinian population in Gaza”

And UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sharply condemned Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip as “disproportionate and excessive”.

One question then is what would have been acceptable as “proportionate”.

Tit for tat

For example, should Israel fire rockets with specifications similar to Qassam missiles from Sderot back into similarly populous civilian regions in Gaza? Daily, at an average rate of about 5 or 6 a day. That would be just about as proportionate as you could get. Of course the death and injury toll might not be the same on both sides. It would be a matter of (bad) luck. Israeli missiles might happen to hit more people than Palestinian ones and Israel might still be accused of failing the proportionality test.

The Quota System

Israel could send troops and tanks into Gaza looking for missiles. Hamas fighters would obviously try to stop them so a battle would ensue. Once the number of Hamas fighters killed equalled the number of Israelis killed by Qassams then the operation would stop, irrespective of the number of missiles taken out of action, and the IDF would withdraw.

That’s proportional. Or is it? Is it not more legitimate to kill terrorist fighters than civilians? This leads to a variant on the theme:

The Civilian Quota System

Israel could send troops and tanks into Gaza looking for missiles. Hamas fighters would obviously try to stop them so a battle would ensue. Israel would use its superior fire-power but as Hamas terrorists are wont to fire from civilian areas there is the risk of Palestinian civilian casualties. Israeli soldiers would stop every now and again to examine rubble and bodies, and try to assess whether any of the dead Palestinians were civilians. Once the number of Palestinians killed deemed to be civilian equalled the number of Israeli civilians killed by Qassams then the operation would stop, irrespective of the number of missiles taken out of action, and the IDF would withdraw.

That’s perfectly workable isn’t it?

Or …

Live With It

Should Israel just put up with the missiles day in day out? Because any other nation would do just that, wouldn’t they?

Note: This article was written with a deliberately flippant tone to make a serious point. The casualties in Gaza and Israel are real and not taken lightly.

Kain's major subjects of focus at NeoConstant are international strategy; support of Israel; the failure of the international community to stop genocide; the spread of American power and democracy; historical analysis; and current events both domestically and abroad. He writes here, Newsvine and his blog, IndiePundit.