In this episode of New Ideal Live, and in the context of ongoing events in Israel and Gaza, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss how to think about civilian casualties in war.
Among the topics covered:
Why the brutal nature of war should not be sanitized, glamorized, or whitewashed
Why winning requires doing everything necessary to bring an end to the enemy’s military and political leadership
How Hamas uses its subjects as human shields, hoping to deter Israel from defending itself and turn wider opinion against Israel
How to think about the moral and causal responsibility of civilians for the aggression of their government
Why a proper concern for innocent people and allies in enemy territory cannot jeopardize overall war aims
Why it’s important not to think of war as a kind of legal punishment for criminal behavior
That Hamas’s goal is not freedom for Palestinians but the annihilation of Israel and the establishment of a religious dictatorship
Why it’s wrong to apply a standard of “proportionality” to military actions taken in self-defense
How altruism causes observers to put emotional reactions to images of suffering above concerns with justice and self-defense
Why Israel and the West’s appeasement of evil makes them partly culpable for the attacks they now face
Relevant to the discussion is “Ayn Rand on the Death of Innocents in War,” a recently released video on the ARI YouTube page, which documents Rand’s extemporaneous comments on the issue of civilian casualties in war.
This episode was broadcast live on October 18, 2023. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.
If you value the ideas presented here, please become an ARI Member today.
