Many people incorrectly assume that proportionality is some kind of mathematical principle: if attackers kill a thousand of my people, I am entitled to respond by killing a thousand of theirs, but no more.
In fact, the principle of proportionality in international law holds that the use of force must be proportionate to the threat faced and must be limited to what is necessary to deal with the threat. In other words, it’s not a matter of numbers. It’s a matter of sufficiency.
Has Israel’s use of force exceeded “what is necessary to deal with the threat”? Recent events demonstrate the opposite. Israel’s use of force has been less, not more, than necessary to deal with the terrorist threat.
For years before October 7, Israel has suffered periodic missile attacks emanating from Gaza. Its entire southern population lives in a state of constant dread. Schools and bus stops must be hardened from attack, and every home must include a bomb-proof safe room.
Israel has taken a variety of forceful measures to deal with these threats, but the measures have clearly failed to eliminate them. If they had been sufficient, we would not have just witnessed the largest loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust.
It remains to be seen how it will respond to the October 7 attack. But when Israel does respond, we as Americans should remember that we responded to the events of 9/11 by commencing two wars and toppling two governments. Israel is a much smaller country. As President Biden noted, the October 7 massacre in Israel was the demographic equivalent of 15 9/11s in the United States.
When Israel responds, it is unlikely that Israel’s use of force will be disproportionate; i.e., more than what is necessary to deal with the threat. The danger is that Israel will not respond forcefully enough to deal with the threat.
The main reason Israel’s enemies accuse it of using disproportionate force is to distract attention from Hamas’s blatant violations of international law. These violations include firing rockets indiscriminately at Israel’s civilian population centers; embedding rocket launchers and other military assets in or near mosques, schools, and hospitals to provoke Israel into retaliating by hitting those facilities; and taking civilian hostages.
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