Sometimes, Violence Really Is the Answer
Sam Harris
Sam Harris argues that a recent Israeli attack on Hezbollah, which used targeted technology to kill jihadists, can be seen as an ethical act of self-defense. He criticizes pacifism as a misguided approach that ignores the realities of violence and evil in the world. Harris suggests that precise violence against those who threaten innocent lives may be necessary for defense and to deter future attacks.
22 Sep 2024
But if this Trojan Horse operation was as precise as it appears to have been, then it ranks among the most ethical acts of self-defense in memory. There are no “innocent” members of Hezbollah—whose only contributions to human culture have been the ruination of Lebanon and the modern evil of suicide bombing. This Iranian proxy has been firing rockets into northern Israel since October 8th, in response to… well, nothing at all. Israel’s occupation of Lebanon ended a quarter century ago.
Tragically, four children are reported to have been killed. However, compared to almost any other military operation, this act of mass sabotage appears to have produced very few unintended deaths. It is an example of exactly the sort of calibrated violence that Israel’s critics claim to support. And it has delivered a profound psychological blow to one of the most ruthless jihadist organizations on Earth.
Pacifism seems to place infinite weight on sins of commission and none whatsoever on those of omission. It is a counterfeit ethics: for instead of grappling with the hard realities of our world, pacifism takes as its focus the imagined moral purity of the pacifist himself—who merely pretends to be good while others do the dirty work of defending civilization from its genuine enemies. Pacifism amounts to nothing more than a willingness to die, and to let others die, in the presence of evil.
If you are uncomfortable with an operation that precisely targeted a group of jihadists who aspire to commit an actual genocide, just what sort of self-defense on Israel’s part would you support?