There is a reason that Putin doesn’t use the word, war, to describe his invasion of Ukraine. He has chosen the word, mission. However, in the war between Israel and Hamas, the word, war, is used to describe the military conflict that began on October 7th with the terrorists’ attack of Hamas on Israel. Recently the United States has issued a report that did not indicate in a conclusive way that Israel is guilty of war crimes. It was implied as it simply said that more data needs to be evaluated, but it looks like they may have guilty of war crimes. The International Community, however, has indicated that war crimes have been committed by Israel under of the leadership of Netanyahu and the right-wing government. How could it not be labeled as such?
Both wars don’t meet the standard as indicated by the Just War Clause. You may remember when you took geometry that the final answer of a proof must conform to the basic assumptions posited in the beginning of the proof. Like geometry, there are many provisions or assumptions in the Just War Clause known as well as Jus Ad Bellum or how to conduct a war in an ethical manner. It begins by saying that no wars are good. There are certain rules in the Just War Clause that stand out as we witness what is occurring in Ukraine and Palestine. Wars should only be conducted out of self-defense, but that defense must be one of moderation. It must be done in a conventional fashion. But what stands out the most is the fact that civilians should not be involved in the conduct of a Just War. It’s one of the worst things that is happening in both Wars.
I took my students through various wars in which we have been involved and we vetted them through the Just War Clause. The one that had the most strikes against it was the Vietnam War. That war contained civilian deaths as well as chemical warfare such as agent orange as well as guerrilla warfare or an unconventional way of fighting. Keep in mind that the Vietnam War was a very unpopular war in our country which led to protests in the streets and on college campuses. The protests were more than we see today. There is a correlation between the injustices as seen in the Just War Clause and protests. No one for example, protested World War 2 as it was seen as a just war or in today’s parlance, a fair fight.
What people are failing to see and act on is that a few right-wing members of the Israeli government and their leader, Netanyahu, have caused massive deaths in Gaza and protests on college campuses. A few people are controlling the devastation of Gaza and the turmoil on college campuses. A Utilitarian approach states that we must do the greatest good for the greatest number of our group. The Israeli government must give way to the larger group of their people in Israel, the larger group of people in Gaza, and on college campuses as there is a direct correlation between violence in Gaza and the increase in protests. That is the truth that the Republicans in Congress don’t seem to understand. They would rather focus on college presidents and students. The faculty of these universities, however, see the cause-and-effect nature of the protests.
However, the Utilitarian Ethic is seen as bringing the people of Israel together under the threat of destruction as a nation, something that is always in the forefront of their concerns. What they are failing to see is that part of the power of the world coming to their aid is based in how the world sees them as a nation. Right now, their greatest power has been the high regard the world has had for Israel which is disappearing with each passing day as Netanyahu and the right-wing government are ignoring world opinion and the strong words of President Biden.
The other fiction is Netanyahu’s statement that he must wipe out Hamas in Palestine. Does he not know how terrorists work? They will just move on to another country as a base. Meanwhile, the barbaric treatment of the Palestinians will create a whole new generation of people who hate Israel. As they watch their children die, they will never forget what Israel did. In their violent attack on Palestine to guarantee that Israel will be safe, the reality is that the world and the Palestinian civilians will never forget what was done and Israel will now be in harm’s way to a much greater degree.
This is common sense politics and speaks to human nature. None of us who could witness the horrors of Gaza where Palestinians have been moved seven times with famine conditions that we, in turn, wouldn’t want some form of revenge.
Likewise, no one could ponder the Holocaust without seeing and feeling the strength and resolve of the Jewish people. They have been an example for us all as the best of humankind. I recently watched a movie, One Life, which is about Nicky Winton, a London stockbroker, who rescued hundreds of predominantly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in a race against time before the Nazi occupation of that land. It causes the viewer to want to enter the screen to be of help. More importantly, I thought that those are people who have been so often the oppressed have now become the oppressor of others.
All the above has created an impossible situation for dialogue with the entrenched Israeli government with politicians as well as students who realize that the people of Gaza are oppressed in such an overt way that it has given them a cause for them to get behind perhaps for the first time in their lives. Before the students may have just been empowered to work hard to get into schools such as Columbia, Harvard, Penn, and many others.
“Never forget” are watchwords that have been claimed by several different groups. A new phrase may rise, “Jus Ad Bellum.”
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