Israel & Yassin, Part III

Kevin over at Washington Monthly's Political Animal has another interesting post on the Yassin assassination. Now, let it be known that the reason I keep referencing Kevin is because I think he's smart, observant, and thoughtful. That being said, I think his first post on this topic wasn't quite up to his usual standards.

He writes:

I guess I'll join the chorus wondering not if this is justifiable, but if it's wise. If merely killing all the terrorists were really a way of ending terrorism, I might not have a problem with it. But it really doesn't seem likely to work unless you're willing to annihilate the entire population along with it.

The main problem with this line of thinking is that Kevin seems to be saying that the entire population of Palestinians either are terrorists themselves or actively support terrorism. I do think that a large number of Palestinians tacitly support terrorism, but I also think that the best way to attack terrorism is by attacking actual terrorists. That's why I support Israel's decision to assassinate Yassin and why I don't usually support Israel's policy of demolishing houses of relatives and friends of terrorists.

The other thing, of course, is that this post initiated a big argument in the comments section (see my earlier post on this). I understand why people get upset when Israeli counter-terrorism actions results in the deaths of innocent bystanders (notice I did NOT use the term "collateral damage"), but I simply don't understand why people are angry about Israel killing a known terrorist. Yassin preached terror. He certainly didn't espouse non-violence or civil disobedience, he didn't argue for limited political violence directed at military targets, and he didn't even argue for attacks only on settlers (not that this would be any more acceptable). Yassin and his Hamas movement killed Israelis, civilian and military, children and adults, men and women, inside the green line and out, religious and secular, labor and likud. Indiscriminate killing is unacceptable and those responsible should face the consequences.

Now, here is where Kevin's second post comes in. He writes that Israel cannot only pursue a strategy of targeted killings and the like. It must also push a "grand strategy." I tend to agree. Though I will forever defend Israel's right to defend itself against people like Yassin, I agree that there's got to be more to Israel's security policy.

Kevin doesn't spell out what the grand strategy would be for Israel, and I don't necessarily expect him to. I have a couple of ideas. But that's for another post.