Redefining Self Defense
Proportionality in self defense at the individual and international levels
Over the past three weeks, the violence in the Middle East has brought to the forefront of the concepts of self-defense and, more specifically, proportionality.
Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks from Hamas is being conducted in the name of self defense. Since October 7, Israel has dropped 12000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza (the equivalent of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in1945), has launched a groundfighting operation and incursions into Syria and Lebanon. Thus far, over 8,000 civilians in Gaza have been killed.
While China has said more than once at emergency UN assemblies that Israel has gone beyond the boundaries of self-defense, Israel’s allies assert that it’s response is still within the bounds of self-defense, and that the self defense response is proportionate to the damage and terror suffered by the Hamas, in which over 1400 Israeli civilians were killed and more than 200 taken hostage. Israel itself has compared the October 7 attack to 9/11 in the United States.
Since the October 7 attack by Hamas, Iran-backed forces have conducted a series of drone and rocket attacks on US bases in Syria. A total of 21 US forces have suffered minor injuries, and all returned to duty…
