Do the Laws of War Apply to Israel?

I really have to say that it makes me extremely angry when I need to read this kind of bullshit written in which wild and implausible views are attributed to me. What I’m saying—and I don’t think this should be controversial—is that whatever you think about Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel still has obligations under international humanitarian law and many credible investigators have reached the conclusion that Israel violated those obligations.

This isn’t the only important issue in the world. It’s not the only important issue in the region. It’s not even the only important issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But it’s an important issue. And there’s a set of people in the United States who are determined to avoid talking about this issue and to instead engage in a lot of imputation of bad faith to the people trying to raise it.

But a liberal democracy can’t just say “we’re a liberal democracy!” and thereby evade questions about actual human rights practices. Part of being a liberal democracy is to, in practice, attempt to avoid human rights violations and attempt to investigate allegations that they’ve taken place.