To the Editor:
The European Union criticized Israel for its “disproportionate use of force” in responding to months of rocket attacks and recent armed incursions on both northern and southern Israel.
Both Hamas, which rules Gaza, and Hezbollah, which is a major party in Lebanon’s government and controls southern Lebanon, have made it clear that the only outcome they will accept is the destruction of Israel.
This begets the question, When someone wants you dead and repeatedly shows by both words and deeds that he will settle for nothing less, just what is a “proportionate use of force”?
John R. Cohn
Philadelphia, July 14, 2006