The UN’s misguided views of the “proportioned” response

Imagine you are awakened by the sound of breaking glass coming from your kitchen area.  Your neighborhood has had a recent glut of robberies and break-in’s for the last several months, so you grab your home defense weapon, a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buck shot, and cautiously approach the area from your bedroom.

A masked intruder, holding a six inch knife, sees you and makes a threatening move in your direction.  You respond with a shotgun blast to his chest, instantly killing him.

According to the UN, you would be condemned for employing “disproportional force” toward your enemy.  They would prefer you had used a knife similar in blade length, weight, and sharpness of your attacker’s.  That you used a weapon disproportionately in size, killing power and effectiveness against the intruder is the issue.

Such nonsense is currently directed towards Israel’s so-called use of “disproportionate force” in their current war against the terrorist group Hamas.  The UN and their supporters who are decidedly pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel in this conflict are appealing to a curious standard of fairness that has no place in this situation.

In my example above, who would criticize this homeowner for protecting his life, those of his family members, and their property from this criminal?  In comparison, we could expect the UN to chastise this father because he did not put down his shotgun, ask the burglar for permission to open up one of the kitchen cabinet drawers, and rustle around inside searching for a knife of similar blade length, weight, and size as the one he was holding.  Then, the ensuing knife fight could be fought in both fairness and proportion…as long as the homeowner was not bigger, stronger or heavier than the criminal.

Hamas, clearly the underdog in this battle, picked a fight with an opponent they knew outweighed, outgunned, and outclassed them in every category.  If Hamas can possibly be found to have any commendable qualities, it would be chutzpa—or lunacy—to have kicked over this hornet’s nest that will undoubtably sting them into near oblivion.  One can even admire a fool for attempting the impossible.

How has the concept of warfare digressed to such terms as “proportioned responses”?  Is America to be faulted for their decidedly “disproportioned response” to Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and note there were no “knock knock” bombs to warn the Japanese of the horror about to greet them) ?  Would we need to cover our ears from the shrill cries of condemnation from those who today would surely protest the multiplied thousands upon thousands of innocents killed in these two events?  Would horrific pictures such as these below be continually displayed on news sites to show the “unfairness” of the US response to Japan’s aggression?

Hiroshima burn victim 1

hiroshima_victim 2

Israel did not start this fight, a truth that appears overlooked when the discussion arises concerning what is proportional and what is not as the proper response to these attacks.

What is further overlooked is the fact that Israel has exercised great restraint in how they have responded to Hamas’ war crimes and hostilities.  Israel has already lost 56 soldiers with one was captured today.  These deaths and the capture of this soldier did not have to happen; Israel could have well used their superior fire power to level and destroy any part of Gaza they wished, dramatically softening up their targets before the necessity of a ground invasion.  But had they done this, the civilian death toll would be catastrophic.  To save civilian Palestinian lives, Israel has sacrificed dozens of their soldiers.

This is one reason why Hamas hides their rockets in residential areas, mosques and hospitals, knowing full well Israel’s reluctance to indiscriminately bomb known targets embedded among the civilian population of Gaza.  And let the world know that if the tables were turned and Hamas had the upper hand in this conflict, they would not hesitate at annihilating hundreds of thousands—even millions—of Israeli citizens if the opportunity presented itself.

For Hamas, a “proportioned response” does not exist in their vocabulary.  Let the hypocrisy end.

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