An eye for an eye

The famous Biblical quotation "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (Exodus 21:23-27) is often misused as a justification for revenge and retributive justice. In fact it was instigated by Moses as a law of limitation. In Genesis there are a number of examples of people who took extreme revenge, massacering whole familes in revenge for an injury. The lex talionis inisted instead that at most the punishment for a crime should be proportionate (and that it should be exacted through a judicial process not on individual initative). Jesus challenged his disciples to go beyond this and apply a restorative justice of forgiveness and love, but let us stick now with the older Jewish law of limitation.

Do Israel's current actions in Lebanon adhere to the Jewish law of limitation? A large proportion of Israelis are secular, but given that its very identity and exclusivity are defined on Jewishness, it seems reasonable to ask whether its action match up to the standards of Jewish law.

The crime: On 13 July Hizbollah crossed into Israel in a raid which captured two soldiers and killed a further eight in the raid itself and the Israeli pursuit back into Lebanon. In the longer term, since Israel withdrew from most of southern Lebanon in 2000 (bar the disputed Sheba Farms area) Hizbollah has sporadically fired rockets into Israel causing occassional casualties (for which Israel has general responded tit-for-tat by striking Hizbollah positions). Since the Israeli attack begun it has intensified the rocket barrage and fired about 700 at last count, killing about a dozen civilians (and claiming to show some restrain by not chosing to targeting sites such as the Haifa petro-chemical plant which could cause significant casualties).

The response: For a week Israel, using its overwhelming military superiority, has bombed targets not only in Hizbollah areas but across the whole of Lebanon. Tripoli a Sunni town and the Christian towns of Zahle & Hadath have been bombed, amoung many others - these are areas where there is next to no support for Hizbollah. Lebanons only airport (which I've flow through 4 times this year) has been devestated, as have many of its roads, bridges, power stations and other infrastructure. The last count I heard on the BBC was 180 civilians killed and 450 injured. More significantly Lebanon's economy, which was finally on the road to recovery 16 years after the end of the civil war, has been set back by many years. Businesses who were beginning to relocate back to Lebanon and tourists who were starting to enjoy the cosmopolitan country will leave and not come back any time soon. This, more than the direct damage and casualties, will be the lasting legacy of the Israeli assault. Hizbollah plucked out an eye and Israel has ravaged the whole body not merely of Hizbollah but of the entire Lebanese polity.

We should not forget that while eyes are turned to Lebanon now, the daily death count in Iraq is often in the hundreds (at least 5818 killed in May and June alone), the level of suffering there is far greater. However, whereas Iraq has been in a fairly hopeless state for years now as a result of American bunders, Lebanon was one of the few areas in the region where things were looking hopeful. The Syria occupation had ended last year and the economy was begining to bloom. Now it is ruined. Killing hope is a very serious crime indeed.

I had a surreal time yestarday evening, sitting down by the Dead Sea watching a beautiful red sun set over the mountains on the Israeli side. I was with some friends (American, British and Algerian) from the UN in Beirut who'd had a 30 hour coach journey exacuating via Syria. They were deeply depressed about what has happened, each with horrific stories of the devastation and the undoing of a city, country and people they'd come to cherish.