Israel : A Just War?

A great deal of public concern has been given over this past week over the morality of Israel’s response to the attacks on its people by the agents of Hamas.  The brutality of these attacks notwithstanding, the question is, Does Israel have the moral right to wage war in the manner it has chosen?  It is not our intention to preach to the Israelis here from our ivory tower what they should or should not do.  The depraved actions of the aggressors demand a forceful response, and our own life experiences cannot come close to understanding the full horror of what the people of Israel have suffered over the past week.  We simply intend to provide a moral background to the situation, by briefly (a) reviewing the principles, while (b) applying them to the current situation.

The teaching of the Church regarding the morality of warfare is clear.  Legitimate defense is not only a right but a grave duty for anyone who has responsibility for the lives of others.  This includes governments and nations who are entrusted with the safety of their citizens.  The waging of a defensive war is therefore something that is morally legitimate.  The Catholic Church, in her role as Mother of souls, notes, however, certain conditions that must be fulfilled before actual warfare may be considered a legitimate response to aggression.

• There must be a declaration of war by civil authority, not merely private citizens. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to do this on the day of the attacks, and this was ratified the following day by the Israeli Parliament.
• There must exist a proportionate and grave cause for the declaration of war. The nature of the terrorist attacks by Hamas makes this self-evident.
• The nation claiming a just cause (in this case, Israel) must be intending to wage war not out of hatred, vainglory, private desire for vengeance, not out of a desire merely to do harm, nor a cruel intent to punish, nor a lust for domination, but out of love for the true and virtuous common good. While we cannot judge the individual motivations of Natanyahu nor any of the other members of the Israeli government, we may certainly agree with their avowed intention to obliterate a terrorist organization that has attacked its citizens in such a massive and brutal way.  Retaliation with the aim of destroying Hamas is proportionate and reasonable and would certainly be for the common good.
• The intended damage inflicted by the aggressor (Hamas) must be lasting, grave and certain. Their openly declared aim is the destruction of Israel, evidently by the method of systematically murdering its citizens.  This is an existential threat to Israel and one that that nation must therefore deal with in a suitably forceful manner.
• All other means of putting an end to the aggression must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective. Hamas has been methodically attacking Israel for many years, and the multiple attempts to minimize their effectiveness have obviously not worked.
• The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. Thus, Israel may not inflict unnecessary civilian casualties in order to achieve the desired result.  Whether Israel fulfills this requirement remains to be seen.

We make no comment here on the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East, nor on the politics of the current volatile situation, neither on any provocation that may or may not have been made by the Israeli domination of the region or treatment of the Palestinians.  Such considerations could never justify the recent blood-curdling actions of Hamas and have no relevance therefore as to whether Israel, as an existing sovereign nation, may defend itself.  Having established that Israel has the right to do so, we must now focus on praying for all the innocent victims of the just war that will now be waged.