As the war in Gaza continues, Israel’s military campaign is looking more and more disproportionate every day.
Let me clarify: I’m using the word “disproportionate” the way it is used among regular humans, where one thing is not equal to another.
In the world of military strategists and experts in the laws of war, “proportionality” doesn’t really take into account the sheer numbers of deaths on either side of a conflict. (It’s pretty chilling, horrible stuff that sounds like it’s taken right out of Dr. Strangelove.)
Of course Hamas is evil and the October 7 attack involved acts of terrorism and war crimes, but how many Palestinians must die in what increasingly appears to be an incredibly asymmetrical war of revenge.
Is the Israeli government’s end goal to wipe out Hamas . . . and to wipe out all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip while they’re at it?
Unfortunately, that is not a rhetorical question, it’s an actual thing that is being discussed by people in Israel’s government.