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October 29, 2007
Ethical Dilemmas in Counterterrorism
A fine article by Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon, former Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Over the course of the past six decades, the reason for the existential threat to Israel has remained unchanged: The refusal of many, if not most, governments and peoples in the Middle East to accept the existence of the Jewish state. The nature of that threat, however, has undergone a dramatic evolution. In recent years, we have witnessed a shift from conventional warfare--that is, wars between armies and states--to “subconventional” warfare (such as terrorism and crude rockets) and superconventional warfare (such as missiles and weapons of mass destruction). Accompanying this change has been a profound political-ideological shift, from the prominence of nationalist-secular movements to that of religious-jihadist ideologies.
This new type of warfare, and the ideology that fuels it, are defined by the intent to kill civilians. Terrorism, rockets, missiles, and WMDs all avoid engaging the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) directly, aiming instead at the general Israeli population. The groups that exploit these methods of warfare do so partially because they know they cannot emerge victorious from a direct confrontation with the IDF. They do so primarily, however, because of their belief that Israeli society is the weakest link in Israel’s national-security chain. And indeed, attacks on Israeli civilians--and the military retaliation they provoke--are the kind most likely to arouse critical moral dilemmas for both the Israeli military and the democratic society it seeks to protect.
Faced with this new kind of warfare, military decision makers at every level, from the chief of staff down to the regular soldier, are forced almost daily to make choices of the most extreme kind--namely, those that will cost lives. In order to grasp the true difficulty, even impossibility, of these choices, it is first necessary to understand what the IDF has been up against in recent years.
To read the rest of Lieutenant General Yaalon's fine article from Azure, please click here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at October 29, 2007 03:40 PM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
"The greatest challenge facing democratic societies today, then, is the need to convince the Arab and Muslim nations of the world to promote for the sanctity of life."
It is clear from tenets of islam and the actions of its followers that "sanctity of life" is meaningless in "Arab and Muslim nations". I doubt that anything short of divine intervention will change this.
"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Posted by: XP ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 29, 2007 05:37 PM
XP:
I'm with you.
I believe that General Yaalon is here indulging in what my wife, the psychologist would call: magical thinking.
Otherwise, a super article.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at October 29, 2007 05:54 PM
Part of the problem is that Israel no longer sends one message. If you'll forgive me for being crass, the days in which there was a uniform "screw you" made it much tougher on the terrorists.
Now they hear and see comments that suggest that some people are tired of fighting. Unfortunately this just serves as incentive to continue the bloodshed.
Posted by: Jack at October 29, 2007 09:01 PM