There is No "Reasonable Man" Standard for Judging Israel

Urban warfare is a minefield of bad publicity and enemy propaganda even if you aren't Israel with four strikes against it before stepping up to the plate. 

Should we draw lessons for maintaining legitimacy of the military efforts of Israel in Gaza urban terrain?

In urban warfare, where combat unfolds amid a multitude of civilians and dense infrastructures, maintaining legitimacy is not merely a legal formality—it is a strategic imperative. According to U.S. military joint doctrine, legitimacy is one of the twelve principles of joint operations. Its purpose is to “maintain legal and moral authority in the conduct of operations,” and it is grounded in the “actual and perceived legality, morality, and rightness of actions from the various perspectives of interested audiences” to include national leadership, domestic populations, governments, local communities in the operational area, and international audiences.

The perception of legitimacy underpins the credibility of the strategic goals military action is used to achieve. Indeed, if there is one transcendent lesson from the Israeli campaign against Hamas, it is this: the perception of illegitimacy will snatch strategic defeat from the jaws of overwhelming tactical victory.

I think that is futile given that much of the world and those who "report" on it considers Israel itself to be illegitimate and any use of force by Israel--which to me seems largely proportional under the laws of war--is a war crime; while Hamas war crimes are ignored or even celebrated.

As long as our troops are following the rules of war, letting them come home with honor as soldiers rather than as brutal killers--and if we aren't shy about explaining that--we should consider that good enough when it comes to the opinion of the sainted international community. Our standards are superior to their standards.

Still, that claimed lesson is another reason to avoid fighting in cities (as I argued in Army magazine) if we can achieve campaign objectives without entering that moral authority booby trap, eh?

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

NOTE: You may also like to read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it. 

Europeans Will Build Their Own F-35 Kill Switch

Traditionally,  Europeans have built their own kill switches for their aircraft. Don't blame America.

There is no "kill switch" that lets America disable allied F-35s. 

In the shadow of escalating tensions between Europe and the United States over NATO commitments and the war in Ukraine, a persistent myth about the F-35 Lightning II has exploded online: the notion that the Pentagon has embedded a “kill switch” in the fifth-generation fighter jet, allowing it to remotely disable or impair the aircraft operated by foreign allies.

Honestly, it could be a revised Russian information operation to kill a plane they fear. The Russians are persistent and bold liars.

And traditionally, the real "kill switch" has been the failure of allies to buy the spare parts and missiles that keep their planes fighting for more than four days. We saw that weakness in the fight against ISIL; and earlier over Libya, which the Europeans made a plan to solve.

Only allies looking for an excuse to avoid re-arming will claim this allegation is true. 

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

NOTE: You may also like to read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it. 

NOTE: I made the image with Bing.