Bret Stephens looks at the incredibly extensive (and expensive) network of Hamas tunnels under residential areas and concludes that the terror group is responsible for every single death in Gaza. Is he right?
No, because his analysis ignores the international law principle of proportionality. If Israel is entitled to kill as many Palestinian civilians as necessary in order to kill a single Hamas fighter, it has a green light to commit genocide.
Israel is not, in reality, committing genocide in Gaza, but this kind of reasoning doesn’t help its cause. Yes, the Israelis are acting in self-defense, and yes, giving Hamas fighters a free pass in order to spare civilians is a reward of sorts for disgusting and irresponsible behavior. But that doesn’t mean the Israelis have a blank check to do anything they want in Gaza. As Biden correctly continues to tell them, they need to do everything in their power to separate civilians from fighters and kill only the latter.
The first stage of the war met the international standard. After that, I have my doubts.