Can An Army Strike Its Terrorist Enemies Yet Minimize Civilian Casualties? Ask Israel

Jerusalem’s presumed beeper-attack was an ingenious example of ethical warfare.

Hezbollah funeral: The pager attack has humiliated the terror group, which vows to seek revenge on Israel.

The United Nations is calling out Israel for allegedly “escalating” the war in the Mideast by setting off exploding pagers held by Hezbollah operatives. That’s rich. 

Where has the UN been since October 8 of last year, when Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian proxy terror organization in Lebanon, began launching missiles against towns in the north of Israel in flagrant violation of the cease-fire established by UN Resolution 1701 in 2006? 

Hezbollah, whose primary mission is to destroy the Jewish state, has not stopped firing missiles on Israel since the day after its Hamas terrorist allies brutally slaughtered more than 1,000 innocent Israeli citizens on October 7. To date, Hezbollah has fired more than 8,200 missiles on Israel, killing dozens of Israelis and causing the government to relocate tens of thousands of citizens to other parts of the country. 

But there was no UN condemnation of Hezbollah these last 11 months. Only now has the august body been stirred to act – against Israel.

It should be noted that leaders of the Western world, including the U.S., consistently have supported Israel in its defensive war against Hamas while calling for minimal civilian casualties in Gaza, though Hamas fighters hide in hundreds of miles of tunnels and offer up their citizens as fodder. Hamas’ evil strategy is simple, and effective: The more Gaza civilian deaths, the more pressure on Israel to end the war.

Israel followed the West’s advice as best it could this week and focused directly, and only, at Hezbollah terrorists. The result, inevitably, included collateral damage from the exploding pagers but no civilians were targeted. Such action is consistent with the basic principles of a just war, which places value on intention – in this case the intention to minimize harm to civilians. But mainstream media gave wide coverage to the funerals of several children who, unfortunately, were killed.

Whatever happened to Resolution 1701? It was passed unanimously by the UN Security Council in the summer of 2006, seeking to end the 34-day war that Hezbollah launched with a massive rocket barrage and a raid on Israel's northern border. In accordance with the resolution, Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah retreated to the north, above the Litani River. Lebanese and UN forces were sent to monitor the area.

Soon after, though, Hezbollah forces returned to where they had been, south of the Litani. The Lebanese and UN troops retreated quietly and Hezbollah has been in place ever since, building tunnels, weapons stashes, military bases and acquiring an arsenal of an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 missiles and rockets.

So much for international diplomacy.