That’s Michael Ignatieff and Michael Walzer, who are, among other things, two of the most compelling minds currently addressing the questions of human rights, just war and humanitarian intervention. And they have both spoken out on the Gaza conflict.

Thanks to Terry Glavin for drawing our attention to this statement of Ignatieff’s:

Israel has been attacked from Gaza, not just last year, but for almost 10 years. They evacuated from Gaza so there is no occupation in Gaza…Hamas is to blame for organizing and instigating these rocket attacks and then for sheltering among civilian populations.

And here’s Walzer on that mot du jour, “proportionality”:

The question “Is it disproportionate?” isn’t hard at all for people eager to say yes, but asked honestly, the answer will often be no, and that answer may justify more than we ought to justify. Asking the hard questions and worrying about the right answers–these are the moral obligations of commentators and critics, who are supposed to enlighten us about the moral obligations of soldiers. There hasn’t been much enlightenment these last days.

Read the rest.