As Israel plans its much-anticipated response to Iran’s mass ballistic missile attack of October 1, President Joe Biden called for Israel’s response to be “proportional.” When asked for clarification of what he meant, specifically if the US would support a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Biden answered “no.” It is worth considering what Biden meant by “proportional.”
Proportionality in warfare is often incorrectly understood to mean that retaliatory military actions must be in proportion to the original attack. This is both incorrect and absurd. To accept this definition would dictate, for example, that Israel’s appropriate response to October 7 in Gaza would be to kill the same number of Gazans as the Israelis killed by Hamas. This erroneous understanding of proportionality assumes that war is a tit-for-tat to be fought fairly without one side exercising too much of an advantage.
Nevertheless, it is hard to escape the conclusion that this is precisely what Biden had in mind in the case of Iran. Namely, that Israel’s response should cause damage within the range of that caused by Iran on October 1.
If Biden’s proportionality referred to resulting casualties, he would essentially be calling for Israel to not attack Iran at all. Israel was fortunate enough, by the grace of God and with the help of missile defense systems, to thwart extensive damage on October 1. There was only one death from the Iranian missile attack, a Gazan killed by shrapnel in Jericho. Judging by casualty numbers, does proportionality dictate that Israel not retaliate at all?
Perhaps Biden’s intent was that the attack itself should be proportional to Iran’s, regardless of results. Iran launched 200 ballistic missiles at mostly civilian targets in Israel on October 1. Was Biden saying that Israel ought to fire a similar number of missiles at Iranian population centers? Since Iran does not possess missile defense systems on par with Israel’s, the carnage to the Iranian population would be enormous. It’s difficult to imagine that this is what Biden had in mind.
Geneva convention
Article 51 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 states that the principle of proportionality prohibits attacks, even when directed at a military objective, if they “may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.”
In other words, “proportional” does not mean that retaliation must be proportional to the previous attack by the enemy. As stated here, an attack must be proportional relative to the “military advantage anticipated.”
For example, if there is a rocket launcher on the roof of a home that is aimed at Israel, the home is a legitimate military target. An airstrike on that home is legitimate and proportional. It is “proportional” because it serves the legitimate “military advantage” of destroying the rocket launching capabilities of that site. Should an airstrike on that house be so extensive as to destroy numerous other houses around it, serving no military advantage by their destruction, such a response would not be deemed proportional.
It is no secret that the Iranian regime openly and regularly calls for the destruction of Israel. They spend billions of dollars arming and directing their various militias and proxies toward that goal. These proxies have been relentlessly attacking Israel daily for the past year. Iran has thousands of ballistic missiles aimed at Israel. And, of course, Iran’s proximity to a nuclear weapon poses an existential threat to Israel.
It is clear that Iran’s stated intent to destroy the Jewish state combined with their nuclear program makes taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities a legitimate military objective for Israel. An attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is the very definition of a proportional response to the October 1 missile attack, per the Geneva Conventions.
When Joe Biden tells Israel to avoid Iran’s nuclear facilities while calling for a “proportional” response, we ought to read between the lines. When Biden took office, the Iranian regime was on the verge of collapse. They reportedly held only $4 billion in reserves. Hezbollah and Hamas were short on resources. The sanctions imposed by the Trump administration meant that they could not sell their oil. They were broke and weak.
Upon taking office, Biden stopped enforcing the sanctions. Since then, Iran has brought in over $100 billion from oil sales alone and has been able to fund and arm its proxies. The US does not want Israel to lose this war, but it doesn’t want Israel to win either. Their constant calls for “regional stability” are an attempt to preserve the status quo in the Middle East, a status quo that Israel knows it must permanently change to ensure its long-term security. This latest call for a “proportional” response from Israel is just one more example of the Biden administration propping up and enriching the Iranian regime.
The writer is executive director of Israel365action.com and cohost of the Shoulder to Shoulder podcast.