Stephen, I appreciate much of what you have written here. But it just isn't true that "You’re not allowed to kill civilians." You're not allowed to TARGET civilians. But lots of operations that are clearly permitted under the law of war kill civilians. Even if you know that an attack will kill civilians, that does not necessarily make it a war crime; the law of war calls for combatants to make difficult judgement calls involving questions of distinction and proportionality and military advantage. In Israel, as in the US, those judgement calls are often made by military lawyers, although of course that is not always feasible and often commanders in the field have to make rapid decisions on the basis of imperfect information, following the guidance and training they have received. Alas, the Israeli government includes ministers who traffic in genocidal rhetoric, which makes it difficult to trust that a good faith effort will be made to comply with international law. Still, I think it is important to recognize that althugh the deliberate targeting of civilians is a grave war crime, the law of armed conflict permits many actions that kill civilians. Human rights groups and military lawyers often interpret the laws of war differently, and reach different conclusions about what they permit and forbid, but on this principle there is fundamentally no disagreement.
Stephen, I appreciate much of what you have written here. But it just isn't true that "You’re not allowed to kill civilians." You're not allowed to TARGET civilians. But lots of operations that are clearly permitted under the law of war kill civilians. Even if you know that an attack will kill civilians, that does not necessarily make it a war crime; the law of war calls for combatants to make difficult judgement calls involving questions of distinction and proportionality and military advantage. In Israel, as in the US, those judgement calls are often made by military lawyers, although of course that is not always feasible and often commanders in the field have to make rapid decisions on the basis of imperfect information, following the guidance and training they have received. Alas, the Israeli government includes ministers who traffic in genocidal rhetoric, which makes it difficult to trust that a good faith effort will be made to comply with international law. Still, I think it is important to recognize that althugh the deliberate targeting of civilians is a grave war crime, the law of armed conflict permits many actions that kill civilians. Human rights groups and military lawyers often interpret the laws of war differently, and reach different conclusions about what they permit and forbid, but on this principle there is fundamentally no disagreement.