32 No. 73 JUSTICE of its strategy in the war against Israel.49 Given these facts, Israel is not legally responsible for those civilian casualties. There is no evidence that Israel has ever deliberately or wantonly targeted Gaza’s civilian population, as Hamas has always done when firing rockets into Israel and committing terrorism. The same analysis holds true for Israel’s responses to the unprovoked attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere. Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets at Israel since October 8, 2023, yet Israel has taken great care to respond by hitting Hezbollah installations and Hezbollah terrorists while avoiding broader civilian casualties in Lebanon, especially in Beirut. Israel’s response to the Houthis’ multiple attacks against Tel Aviv has been limited to damaging the Houthi-controlled port facilities in Hodeida and Ras Isa, while avoiding Yemeni civilian casualties. The same is true for Israeli self-defense strikes against targets in Syria and Iran. Conclusion No matter how one interprets the concept of proportionality, Israel’s use of force to defend itself in the ongoing seven-front war has been necessary to protect its people and to achieve its military objectives. That fact alone should suffice to end the proportionality debate. Perhaps Keiler said it best when he recommended dispensing with the concept of proportionality altogether: 49. Commenting on the deaths of civilian human shields in Gaza during Israeli retaliatory strikes, Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh said, “The blood [spilled] in the Gaza Strip, alongside the resistance and the Al-Qassam, will defeat this occupier, will defeat this enemy . . . As I said, and I repeat every time, the blood of the children, women, and elderly . . . we need this blood so that it will ignite within us the spirit of revolution, so that it will arouse within us persistence, so that it will arouse within us defiance and advance.” AL-JAZEERA (Oct. 24, 2023), https://www.aljazeera.com/ news/liveblog/2023/10/26/israel-hamas-war-live-unceasefire-bid-fails-as-gaza-death-toll-soars (last accessed Dec. 11, 2023) (the English version of Al Jazeera’s website deleted the quote above, but the Arabic version included it). 50. Supra note 25, at 63. “Proportionality as a law of war concept for good reason has had limited applicability and usefulness during the last century. It deserves to be disposed of entirely.”50 n Steven E. Zipperstein, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, teaches at UCLA, Tel Aviv University and the Hertie School in Berlin. He is also Associate Director and Distinguished Senior Scholar at the UCLA Center for Middle East Development.
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