The language of 'terror' revisited

The big difference between the IDF and Hezbollah, we’re told, is that one is a terrorist group and the other a fully incorporated armed force which has rules of engagement and which most importantly does not kill civilians intentionally.

This is of vital importance: Hezbollah murder civilians randomly as their main operational technique. The IDF kills ten times as many innocent civilians in its strikes against Hezbollah but because these are not an aim of the strikes, they don’t really count.

The paucity of this argument should be plain for all to see. It can be attacked on two fronts:

(i) The aim of Hezbollah is not to kill Israelis, per se, but to pursue a radical, nationalist agenda. The death of Israeli civilians is not therefore the sole aim of Hezbollah rather than something which must happen in order to win. In this way, Hezbollah’s crimes can be justified using the same justification which the IDF uses.

(ii) In the vast majority of conflicts between Israel and its neighbours (or groups such as Hezbollah), huge numbers of innocent civilians are killed or displaced. Because this is nothing new, it must surely feature in IDF strategic planning. It can therefore be said that the death of innocent civilians is considered as a justifiable means to achieve the end which the IDF seeks. Therefore, while not the primary aim of Israeli military attacks, civilian deaths are not regretted by the IDF being, as they are, the way by which Israel will prevail.

It is therefore not the aim of either to murder civilians, but because both forces know that these deaths will occur, they are intentional. In other words, there is no fundamental difference between Hezbollah and the IDF. Both forces recognise that in order to achieve their goals, they must murder innocent civilians.

It is important that we stay on top of the language being used by our media and governments – and that we take care to question such widely accepted facts as the difference between two murderous forces.

Click here to read 'War on terror', linguistics and logic.

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