Weekly Commentary: Waive Proportionality When Civilians Warned To Evacuate
Dr. Aaron Lerner 31 October 2024

So there are civilians located within harm's way if Israel carries out an
action against a Hamas target.

The Israeli authorities warn the civilians to evacuate from the area of the
target.

But the civilians opt to remain.

We hit the target.

Civilians who refused to evacuate are wounded or even die.

So we get into the debate over the "proportionality" of the action.

Some in the Harris-Biden team believe that the death of any Arab civilian is
unacceptable, even if they are human shields.

And with Harris-Biden already engaged in lawfare against the Jewish state
with threats to literally cut off all military supplies if we do not march
exactly according to their drum, this discussion is extremely relevant.

To be clear, proportionality is in the eyes of the beholder.

So when an American envoy suggests an agreement which offers that Israel
can, as a last resort (another loophole), attack as long as the attack is
"proportional," this is essentially a meaningless offer.

There is a solution.

Waive proportionality when civilians are given the opportunity to evacuate
the relevant area around a target before the target is hit.

Granted, in a sane world, such a radical proposal would be unwarranted.

But over the last twelve months, we have witnessed a world in which the
Biden-Harris administration, along with most of the leaders of the western
world, have consistently vilified Israel for the death of willing human
shields who were warned well in advance to evacuate to safety.

And in the course of this nightmarish year, I have yet to see a single
remark from the Biden-Harris administration or other world leaders
condemning adults who willingly sacrificed their children as human shields.

And we have no idea how far the pendulum of lawfare will continue to swing.


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