So Now We’re Not Allowed to Eliminate Terrorists?

Yair Lapid
Times of Israel, Aug. 19, 2024
 
 “By what moral code should Israel accept rocket barrages from terrorist organizations and rogue states?”
 
Twelve innocent children were killed by Hezbollah at a soccer field in northern Israel. The next day I visited the site. Bloodstained bicycles were still strewn on the ground. I hugged and talked with heartbroken, crushed people. A few days later, Israel eliminated a senior Hezbollah terrorist in a surgical strike in Lebanon in response. Yet, Israel is expected to endure a massive attack from Hezbollah as if this is an inevitable, even justified, response. A few days later, a senior Hamas terrorist was killed in Tehran. Reports indicated it caused “embarrassment to the Iranians.” Again, Israel is expected to face volleys of rockets and drones in response.
 
Too many are acting as if this is a reasonable equation. The Iranian president has stated that they have a “right to respond” while the leader of Hezbollah said Israel has crossed some sort of “red line” and a response would be inevitable. That sentiment is echoed by a slew of articles across the world on how and when the attacks will occur asserting that “Iran has to respond” and that an “Iranian response is inevitable.”
 
But why should such a response be “inevitable?” Not only is this deeply flawed moral logic, it also sets a dangerous precedent for the rest of the world.
 
When the United States eliminated Osama bin Laden, no one thought it justified an al-Qaeda attack on Washington or New York. When al-Baghdadi was killed in Syria, no one expected the US to calmly accept the inevitable revenge of ISIS. Terrorists thrive because they don’t play by the rules, yet today the world behaves as if their rules are reasonable. … [To read the full article, click here]