Israel's two wars - by Matthew Yglesias - Slow Boring

The humanitarian toll of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip is immense, which naturally gives most people pause. The situation is worrying — it would be inhumane to find it otherwise — and obviously Israel should follow the laws of war and respond in as measured a manner as possible. I do think, though, that a lot of critics overlook the extent to which this humanitarian disaster is an inevitable consequence of waging war in a place with the population density of Philadelphia or Chicago. It’s not like Israel is avoiding military targets in favor of shelling a city (something that does happen in wars) or deliberately targeting a civilian population center as a means of psychological warfare (something the United States has done in the past). If your house is destroyed or your children are starving or a piece of rubble just crushed your femur, you’re not going to care about any of that. But Israel really did try to maintain a modus vivendi with Hamas for a long time, Hamas really did break o

The humanitarian toll of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip is immense, which naturally gives most people pause. The situation is worrying — it would be inhumane to find it otherwise — and obviously Israel should follow the laws of war and respond in as measured a manner as possible. I do think, though, that a lot of critics overlook the extent to which this humanitarian disaster is an inevitable consequence of waging war in a place with the population density of Philadelphia or Chicago. It’s not like Israel is avoiding military targets in favor of shelling a city (something that does happen in wa