Soccer Dad points us to this fine essay by the Israeli philosopher Asa Kasher which demonstrates why Operation Cast Lead was a just war justly fought. Among the pertinent points Kasher makes:
Compare the Gaza operation to the U.S. Marine operation in Fallujah, Iraq, in late 2004. During the operation, about 6,000 Iraqis including 1,200-2,000 insurgents were killed. Of the city’s 50,000 buildings, some 10,000 were destroyed, including 60 mosques. Thus, the U.S. left a trail of destruction in Fallujah far greater than anything Israel inflicted on Gaza. Comparing IDF activities to those of military forces of Western democracies is an essential part of any present attempt to use international law.
We in Israel are in a key position in the development of customary international law in this field because we are on the front lines in the fight against terrorism. The more often Western states apply principles that originated in Israel to their own non-traditional conflicts in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, then the greater the chance these principles have of becoming a valuable part of international law.
Readers interested in the Kasher and Yadlin vs. Walzer and Margalit debate - about which I posted here - may well be interested in their latest exchange here.
Avishai Margalit and Michael Walzer here go to some lengths to reject a subsidiary claim about the duty of states towards their soldiers involved in operations against terrorists made by Asa Kasher and Amos Yadlin in a paper -subscription required -that is mainly concerned with other questions.
Continue reading ‘A Partial Defence of Kasher and Yadlin’
