The international “community” and its academic justifiers claim that Israel's attacks on Hezbollah's communications equipment are illegal. They are completely wrong.
The laws of war are based on two fundamental principles: first, the distinction between targeting combatants and civilians, and second, the requirement of proportionality when attacking targets that include both.
Based on these principles, Israel's actions are fully justified.
The law clearly states that anyone who becomes a combatant is a legitimate military target, which in this case includes joining or supporting Hezbollah, harboring Hezbollah terrorists, or allowing one's home or property to be used by Israel's enemies.
The law also makes it clear that those who become combatants may be targeted as long as they maintain their status, unless they surrender or publicly declare that they are no longer part of a militant group. This is especially true in the case of terrorist groups like Hezbollah, which is made up of both full-time soldiers and part-time terrorists, who may have other jobs when not constantly participating in military activities. (Related article: Alan Dershowitz: Israel's preemptive strike against Hezbollah may have prevented a larger war)
A person who is considered a combatant may be targeted and killed while sleeping, working, or playing. A combatant does not have to be actively engaged in combat at the moment he or she is killed, nor does he or she have to be actively committing an act of terrorism when he or she is targeted; it is enough that he or she maintains combatant status.
Those who were given pagers, walkie-talkies or other communications equipment by Hezbollah were clearly combatants, and their deaths and injuries were lawful, even if they were just shopping or taking a walk when the bombing occurred.
But a small number of non-combatants (including children) were also killed or injured. This is where the requirement of proportionality comes into play: Israel must have known it could not detonate that many bombs without causing collateral damage to innocent civilians. This applies to virtually all military actions, especially those conducted in crowded urban areas like Beirut.
The laws of war do not, and should not, outright prohibit such actions, but they do impose limitations based on proportionality, which requires that those planning military or intelligence operations in which the killing or wounding of noncombatants is unavoidable must make reasonable efforts to minimize civilian casualties in line with military objectives. (Related article: Alan Dershowitz: Are Democrats Painting a Target on Israel's Back?)
These must meet the standard of proportionality — that is, expected civilian casualties must be proportionate to the military value of the combat objective. There is no magic formula for achieving this outcome; military action must be reasonable given the circumstances.
In other wars, the ratio was three or four noncombatants for every combatant. In Gaza, the ratio is closer to two noncombatants for every combatant. In recent attacks on pagers and walkie-talkies, civilian deaths and injuries have been far fewer than combatant deaths and injuries.
But the international community and scholars have criticized Israel for violating the laws of war. Their criticism is dangerously wrong, and Israel should not be deterred from taking similar action based on the prejudices of those who would abuse the laws as a weapon against the beleaguered Jewish nation-state.
DershowitzThe latest issue ofThe War on the Jews: How to End Hamas BrutalityStein is a former Speaker of the New York City Council.
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