Warfare that targets civilian lives must be made unacceptable
Avi Jorisch says that by locating weapons in schools, mosques and hospitals, Hamas is forcing Israel into the kind of asymmetric warfare that all societies fighting terrorists must face
As the recent hostilities in Gaza demonstrate, Israel stands at the forefront of a new kind of warfare. Israel is not alone in the need to confront radical forces that include terrorist organisations and oppressive regimes who deliberately seek civilian casualties on all sides as the core element of their military strategy; this is a long-term battle that other liberal societies will ultimately have to fight.
Sooner or later most free democracies will face the same challenge that Israel is struggling with today: how to defend themselves from ruthless enemies who deliberately place civilians in harm's way, without undermining the basic values upon which open societies are based.
Hamas' strategy is to force Israel into a lose/lose situation by rejecting the basic norms of warfare, which seek to protect civilian populations. By indiscriminately firing rockets from heavily populated areas in Gaza into Israel's major cities, Hamas confronts Israel with a terrible choice: either allow rocket fire to continue and put its civilians at risk, or attack Hamas' weapons depots, which are deliberately placed in and around civilian areas.
The first option is unacceptable to any democracy.
But so is the second: military operations that result in the deaths of Palestinian civilians are morally heart-wrenching for the Israeli public and lead to condemnation of Israel. This is precisely why Hamas welcomes the death of its civilians by the Israeli military, which it uses to isolate Israel internationally and demoralise it internally.
According to noted Haifa University Professor Dan Schueftan, the ideal Israeli military response to rockets targeting its cities has two components. The first is to gather accurate intelligence on where Hamas rockets are located. The second is to execute attacks that target these weapons and Hamas' command and control structure - and to warn civilians in advance.
But because weapons are hidden in schools, mosques, hospitals, playgrounds and tunnels that run underneath residential buildings, and Hamas has threatened Palestinian civilians who flee targeted areas, it is impossible for Israel to respond without incurring civilian deaths. This is a challenge any liberal society in this situation would struggle with.