Deja Vu on “proportional response”

What would be a proportional response to an armed robbery? What would be a proportional response to rape? A proportional response to an armed robbery might be scaring the hell out of the robber for a few minutes and taking some of his money. For rape: rape him back so he knows what it feels like and so he suffers some roughly equivalent amount of mental anguish. Hello, people! The justice system is not about proportional response, not in ANY society. It is about punishments that are deemed appropriate to stop or deter criminal behavior. In the case of armed robbery, a quick review of US state codes shows that more serious punishments (up to life in prison) are applied for more dangerous weapons, and/or if the criminal is masked, and/or if it is a repeat offense. As for rape, some states and some countries have the option of applying the death penalty. If the victim is a child or it is a repeat offense, the sentence will be more severe.

Israel has been dealing with terrorism, not just since the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, nor for the last 8 years of rocket attacks from Gaza. Terrorism has not stemmed from the Six Day War of 1967 when Jordan lost control of the West Bank and Egypt lost control of Gaza (remembering that Jordan had NO intention of allowing the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, but rather had annexed it, and Egypt had NO intention of creating a Palestinian state in Gaza; indeed, Gaza under Egypt was reckoned by the UN to be the poorest and most unhealthy place on earth). Anti-Jewish, anti-Israel terrorism did not even begin with the UN vote in 1947 partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab countries (a plan the Jews accepted but the Arabs rejected). There were major outbreaks of Arab rioting and terrorism from 1936-39, 1929, and 1919. And before that, Ottoman and Arab empires in the Middle East regularly subjected its Jewish residents to oppression and predatory governmental discrimination.

Arab and Palestinian terrorism is a product of deeply embedded bigotry. Numerous groups in Gaza, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and as we can see from all the news reports, Europe too, are outspokenly committed to destroying Israel, that is, committed to ethnic cleansing and genocide. What is the proportional response to the intention to commit genocide? THAT is the response that Hamas deserves! What Israel is doing today is far less than a proportional response to Hamas. Israel is administering an appropriate punishment to a criminal government that must be taught the consequences of its hatred and persistent violence.