The Principle of Double Effect (PDE) exculpates you for the albeit anticipated consequences of your actions – the so-called collateral damage – provided 1) they were not the intention of your action, 2) they were not the means by which you realised what you did intend, and 3) the usual moral proportionality condition is met. The Israeli targeting of a Hamas operative fails on all three fronts. That operative will be replaced within the hour, and the Israelis know that. So the intention just is the terrorising of the Palestinian civilian population. Whether that should be a war crime – think of Dresden and Hiroshima – we can debate when we’re more at our leisure. But let’s not pretend – nor allow the accused to pretend – that the PDE has anything to do with it.

Categories: Everything You Wanted to Know About What's Going On in the World But Were Afraid to Ask, Social and Political Philosophy

Tags: collateral damage, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Principle of Double Effect, war crimes