Proportionality and Blame

Over at the L.A. Times Jonathan Chait takes on what he rightly argues is the "silly" assertion that Israel is using disproportionate force in waging its attacks against Hezbollah and its protectors in Lebanon. I argued something similar last week, but without a comparable platform. Alan Dershowitz, meanwhile, wisely encourages us to Dershowitz"Blame the Terrorists, Not Israel," in the Boston Globe, and Marty Peretz augments and cites Dershowitz while illustrating how it is clear that Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations crave not only the death of Israeli civilians, but of their own as well. The deaths of their own innocents is all part of the plan. In other words, these organizations of death rely on Israel's capacity to retaliate.