Prevention and Punishment

In the wake of the horrific attack of Hamas on civilians in Israel, expert analysts of Middle East geo-politics have commented on some of the surprising security information that seemed to be lacking before the events unfolded.

Security Check

Dale Gavlak, reporter for VOA Voice of America News, shares the opinion of some analysts who point to numerous security failures by Israel’s intelligence and military apparatus ahead of Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel.

Andrew England, Middle East editor of London’s Financial Times, expressed surprise at the Iran-backed Hamas militants’ ability to launch coordinated attacks from Gaza.

“Hamas’s deadly, carefully planned and multi-faceted operation has unleashed Israel’s most terrifying nightmare: civilians finding themselves on the front lines of the protracted conflict as their homes became war zones. He says it “suggests a massive intelligence failure that will send shockwaves—and fear—through Israeli society.” (Gavlak, 2023)

Natan Sachs directs the Center for Middle East Policy at Washington’s Brookings Institution. He told an online audience this week that a “deep crisis of trust in the Israeli state and military” now exists among Israel’s traumatized populace. Sachs said one of the most important policy considerations is to make sure Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah stays out of this conflict.

He told an online audience this week that a “deep crisis of trust in the Israeli state and military” now exists among Israel’s traumatized populace.

“There is a willingness, a demand even in Israel to incur costs that would not have been, even in the past," Sachs said. "This is going to be a terrible time in the Gaza Strip. I am almost certain it will enter militarily in the ground forces. The calls in Israel to topple Hamas now are loud, I do not know if they will win the day, but I would not rule it out.”

“Hezbollah is more powerful than Hamas by far, and Israel’s response in Lebanon, I fear, would be absolutely devastating in a country that’s already reeling from enormous domestic crises. If Hezbollah decides to join, I don’t think Iran will," Sachs said. "We will see huge devastation in the north, precisely because Israel feels so cornered. (Gavlak, 2023)

Other observers say…

The Economist’s Patrick Lane writes about ignoring Palestinians’ aspirations to sovereignty.

“Hamas must be made to pay for its atrocities, But it is also clear that Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-pursued policy of ignoring Palestinians’ aspirations to sovereignty is in tatters.”

A former CIA officer in the Middle East, Bob Baer told CNN that neither the U.S. nor Israel have good intelligence on Hamas and its plans.

“They’re not up on cell phones. There’s no meta data on these people. So, this has become a very disciplined organization, The Israelis don’t have any good human sources inside Gaza. Otherwise, they would have found out about this. It’s really, very much a black hole for the Israelis. Simply bombarding Gaza is going to risk a regional war.” (Gavlak, 2023)

Karim Emile Bitar of the Geneva Center for Security Policy told France24 that while Hamas could have planned this alone, it appears Iran provided support—a claim Tehran denies.

“I think Iran has been growing increasingly nervous because of the ongoing Saudi Israeli rapprochement,” Bitar said, which could explain “this turning point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” (Gavlak, 2023)

Questions about the surprise attack will need to be addressed. The impression that Israel could provide security in sophisticated means that would avoid mass civilian casualties has not been true. This failure may result in unprecedented loss of life.

References

Gavlak, D. (2023, October 11). Analysts Examine Israel's Security Failures in Hamas Attack. VOA News. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://www.voanews.com/a/analysts-examine-israel-s-security-failures-in-hamas-attack/7306397.html 

Protecting Civilians in Armed Conflict

After World War II, an initiative to develop a rules-based international system was led by likeminded allies and partners. It has produced unprecedented levels of peace, prosperity, and freedom, but it is coming under increasing strain.

Attempts to protect civilians in conflict 

During a day-long open debate, on 23 MAY 2023,  Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Security Council about the need for greater respect for international humanitarian law through action and accountability.

Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), pointed out that development and peace become unachievable when conflicts are characterized by widespread destruction and international humanitarian law violations.  In that regard, all parties engaged in urban warfare must prioritize civilian protection, avoid the use of heavy explosive weapons in populated areas and ensure essential services.  States and other actors must also reduce the risk of food insecurity and invest in practical solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change in conflict-affected regions. (International Laws Protecting Civilians in Armed Conflict Not Being Upheld, Secretary-General Warns Security Council, Urging Deadly Cycle Be Broken | UN Press, 2023)

Jeffrey Cimmino and Matthew Kroenig, writing for the Atlantic Council, notes the role of the rules based international system to place limits on the use of military force and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

The rules-based international system was constructed mostly by leading democratic allies at the end of World War II, and was deepened and expanded by many other countries over time. The system is predicated on a set of norms and principles pertaining to global security, the economy, and governance. It consists of: a set of rules encouraging peaceful, predictable, and cooperative behavior among states that is consistent with liberal values and principles; formal institutional bodies, such as the United Nations (UN) and NATO, that serve to legitimize and uphold these rules, and provide a forum to discuss and settle disputes; and the role of powerful democratic states to help preserve and defend the system. In the security realm, the system is characterized by formal alliances in Europe and Asia, in addition to rules that protect state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and place limits on the use of military force and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. (Cimmino, 2020)

Thomas Watkins  reports for the National News UAE  that In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks, Mr Biden put any political differences aside and repeatedly pledged unflinching support for Israel without referencing the civilian deaths in Gaza, where more than 1,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes.

On Wednesday, though, he signalled his support had some limitations, saying Israel should follow “the rules of war”. Israel has already flattened large parts of Gaza and has cut off food and water to the territory's 2.3 million people. (Watkins, 2023)

Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), is a visiting professor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, comments that if the Israeli government responds to this moment like George W Bush, it will soon follow the route of his government from global sympathy to global outrage.

It is a basic premise of international humanitarian law that war crimes by one side do not justify war crimes by the other. Of necessity, given the passions, charges and counter-charges of most wars, the duty to comply with the rules designed to spare civilians as much as possible the hazards of war is absolute, not contingent on the behavior of opponents.

The Israeli government already seems to be flouting those rules. The declared siege of Gaza, blocking food, water and electricity, violates the duty to allow humanitarian aid to civilians in need, as the people of Gaza certainly are as they suffer massive Israeli bombardment. In the first day of those airstrikes, the Israeli military targeted four large apartment towers. In the past, Israel has purported to justify such attacks because of an ostensible Hamas office somewhere in the complex, but the civilian cost of rendering hundreds of Palestinians homeless is wholly disproportionate. One attack hit a market, reportedly killing dozens. The UN says two hospitals have been hit. (Roth, 2023)

Moustafa Bayoumi, author of the award-winning books How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror, professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York and a contributing opinion writer at the Guardian US, comments that Biden and Zelenskiy support a war they say was ‘unprovoked’ but a defenseless population will pay for media misinformation. Bayoumi asks “What exactly counts as a provocation?”

Not, apparently, the large number of settlers, more than 800 by one media account, who stormed al-Aqsa mosque on 5 October. Not the 248 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers between 1 January and 4 October of this year. Not the denial of Palestinian human rights and national aspirations for decades.

One can, in fact must, see such actions as provocations without endorsing further murderous violence against civilians. But if you watched only US news, you would be likely to presume that Palestinians always act while Israel only reacts. You might even think that Palestinians are the ones colonizing the land of Israel, no less. And you probably believe that Israel, which holds ultimate control over the lives of 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and yet denies them the right to vote in Israeli elections, is a democracy.

To be considered a political being you must at the very least be considered a human being. Who gets to count as human? “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant said. Human animals? How can such language and an announced policy of collective punishment against all the residents of Gaza be seen by Israel’s supporters in the United States or elsewhere as defensible? Let’s be clear: Gallant’s language is not the rhetoric of deterrence. It’s the language of genocide. (Bayoumi, 2023)

The armed conflict that is threatening to kill many civilians in Gaza requires that we identify some of the international rules intended to protect civilians that will likely be violated.

References

Bayoumi, M. (2023, October 11). The double standard with Israel and Palestine leaves us in moral darkness | Moustafa Bayoumi. The Guardian. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/11/israel-palestine-war-biden-zelenskiy 

Cimmino, J. (2020, December 16). Strategic context: The rules-based international system. Atlantic Council. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/atlantic-council-strategy-paper-series/strategic-context-the-rules-based-international-system/ 

International Laws Protecting Civilians in Armed Conflict Not Being Upheld, Secretary-General Warns Security Council, Urging Deadly Cycle Be Broken | UN Press. (2023, May 23). UN Press. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15292.doc.htm 

Roth, K. (2023, October 11). The attack on Israel has been called a '9/11 moment'. Therein lies a cautionary tale | Kenneth Roth. The Guardian. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/11/israel-hamas-attack-gaza-9-11-cautionary-tale 

Watkins, T. (2023, October 12). The Middle East crisis Joe Biden hoped he would avoid. The National. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/2023/10/12/the-middle-east-crisis-joe-biden-hoped-he-would-avoid/ 

“Laudate Deum,” after “Laudato Si’”

Vincent Miller, the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton, and the editor of The Theological and Ecological Vision of “Laudato Si’”: Everything is Connected, comments that in “Laudate Deum,” Pope Francis revisits the themes of “Laudato Si’” after eight years—a clear sign of urgency for a Catholic Church that thinks in centuries.

From Laudato Si to Laudato Deum

Eight years of inadequate progress later, as emissions continue to rise, and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have risen from 405 parts per million then to 423 .pm this summer. “Laudate Deum” is much more critical, devoting more than a third of its length to the weaknesses of international politics and the U.N. in addressing climate change. Although papal writing is usually known for diplomacy, Francis is shockingly direct: “It is no longer helpful for us to support institutions in order to preserve the rights of the more powerful without caring for those of all” (No. 43).

The pope calls to democratize international decision-making, which would require “spaces for conversation, consultation, arbitration, conflict resolution and supervision” (a call he can make with more legitimacy as the Synod on Synodality gets underway). He defends the actions of climate activist groups that are often negatively portrayed as “radicalized” as “filling in a space left empty by society as a whole,” which is failing to “pressure” decision makers as the future of its “children is at stake” (No. 43). (Miller, 2023)

Laudato Si 2015	Laudate Deum 2023
engage all who live on our planet about “our common home”	my brothers and sisters of our suffering planet
action amidst the hopeful lead up to the Paris climate meeting.	the weaknesses of international politics and the U.N. in addressing climate change
looked with hope to the COP 21 U.N. Climate Change meeting	speaks in apprehension about next month’s COP 28 meeting, which is being hosted by the United Arab Emirates,
spoke forcefully, but diplomatically, to a global governance system that seemed able to address the civilizational challenge of climate change.	Francis is shockingly direct: “It is no longer helpful for us to support institutions in order to preserve the rights of the more powerful without caring for those of all” (No. 43).
“Laudato Si’” spoke of climate change	Francis forcefully recounts its scientific evidence, referencing denial of its overwhelming evidence “even within the Catholic Church” (No. 14).
“Laudato Si’” calls us to listen to the “cry of the earth”	“Laudate Deum” chronicles in detail the already irreversible damage we have done.
what “Laudato Si’” termed the “technocratic paradigm,” which views “nonhuman reality as a mere resource at its disposal”	language is dire: “admiration at progress blinded us to the horror of its consequences” and the “homicidal pragmatism” of the belief that our problems can be solved solely by “technical interventions” (No. 57).
	“‘Praise God’ is the title of this letter. For when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies” (No. 73).

(Miller, 2023)

An email from National Observer Climate correspondent Chris Hatch quotes Pope Francis update to his 2015 encyclical, this one titled Laudate Deum. “‘Praise God' is the title of this letter. For when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies,”

Pope Francis “shamed and challenged” world leaders while openly confronting climate denial and delay. The Pope issued an update to his 2015 encyclical, this one titled Laudate Deum: “‘Praise God' is the title of this letter. For when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies,” he wrote.

Francis endorsed African bishops’ description of climate change as “a tragic and striking example of structural sin,” called out the “irresponsible lifestyle” of the developed world and pointedly named the United States, where per capita emissions are twice as high as China and seven times the average in developing countries (Canada’s are higher still but escaped mention).(C. Hatch, personal communication, Sunday, October 8 2023)

More Urgency in Laudato Deum

 

Pope Francis raises our attention once again to the urgency of a change in our lifestyle and our attitude to the changes necessary to respond to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor as proclaimed in “Laudato Si’” and  intensified in “Laudate Deum.”

References

Miller, V. J. (2023, October 5). The Catholic Church thinks in centuries. But when it comes to climate change, Pope Francis doesn't. America Magazine. Retrieved October 9, 2023, from https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/10/05/laudate-deum-papal-document-pope-francis-246217? 

Noise over noise

Noise from students at a street party near the Dalhousie Campus recently was mentioned in complaints from residents of the neighbourhood. Other noise issues have also been brought to the attention of the municipal government in the past five years.

Noise in the neighbourhood

Andrew Sampson of CBC News reports homecoming-related parties have become a regular occurrence in Halifax since at least 2017. Caitlin Lees wants to see the city of Halifax and Dalhousie University find a way to put an end to unsanctioned street parties. 

There were hundreds of people milling about the residential area, with many carrying alcohol, some of whom were visibly intoxicated. Lees said the music nearby was so loud her house was shaking and that she witnessed some students urinating on her home. (Sampson, 2023)

In March of 2023, CBC Information Morning aired a piece by Erin MacInnis about a Halifax couple seeking a reprieve from noise generated by their neighbour, the Halifax Curling Club. The CBC Website describes the Program Segment. 

As winter sports begin to wrap up for the season, a Halifax couple is looking forward to an annual reprieve from their noisy neighbour. Nancy Shea and her husband Richard live next door to the Halifax Curling Club, they're currently in the process of suing the club over constant noise and other emissions. The CBC's Erin MacInnis brings us the story.

Aired: March 17, 2023 (Information Morning - NS With Portia Clark | Live Radio, n.d.)

The blog post We Want Our Life Back looks at noise levels, neighbour reactions and the HRM Noise By-Law.

Kayla S. Rekowski has completed “Halifax Noise Study: Resident Perceptions into Noise Annoyance” as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Combined Honours in Environment, Sustainability, and Society and Environmental Science.

The literature review has confirmed that noise can have a myriad of negative impacts on both the physical health and well-being of individuals living in urban areas such as stress, loss of income, trouble sleeping, and hypertension (Bjork et al., 2006; Landon et al., 2016). Even average noise levels in the urban environment have been found to exceed acceptable limits of ≥70 dB(A), which can cause irreversible damage to hearing (Mayes, 2021; McAlexander et al., 2015). Free-living animals such as birds have also shown sleep disturbance to night-time urban noise reducing their overall quality of life (Grunst et al., 2021). Species diversity in urban songbirds is greatly decreased from anthropogenic noise in the built environment (Proppe et al., 2013), and neurodiverse persons suffer extreme anxiety from everyday interactions due to urban noise (Landon et al., 2016). (Rekowski, 2022)

Pam Berman of CBC News reported on the use of decibel reading instruments following noise complaints from constituents.

Coun. Kathryn Morse said she received complaints over the summer in her Halifax-Bedford Basin West district because of outdoor community events.

"The music was so loud it was almost intolerable for the people living nearby, yet it was very difficult to enforce and a dispute over how noisy it really was," said Morse.

Coun. Waye Mason cautioned that creating a measurement to use in the noise bylaw is not as easy as it sounds.

"You have to be trained on the decibel meter, it has to be a proper kind of technology and it has to be from a consistent distance," said Mason. "If any of that is in any way not OK, the case is going to get tossed out of court."

But Mason agreed to a review because it has been 10 years since the noise bylaw has been updated. (Berman, 2021)

As Halifax continues to grow in population and increased urban density the impact of noise on the health and enjoyment of residents will likely appear more frequently on the agenda of HRM Councillors. Achieving measurable reduction of noise levels by using mitigation technology or removal of noise sources from neighbourhoods will improve the quality of life for beleaguered residents and address a long standing issue in municipal government.

References

Berman, P. (2021, November 15). When is loud too loud? Council requests noise bylaw review in Halifax region. CBC. Retrieved October 6, 2023, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/council-requests-noise-bylaw-review-in-halifax-region-1.6247020 

Information Morning - NS with Portia Clark | Live Radio. (n.d.). CBC. Retrieved October 6, 2023, from https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-27-information-morning-ns 

Rekowski, K. S. (2022, April 22). Halifax Noise Study- Resident Perceptions into Noise Annoyance. DalSpace. Retrieved October 6, 2023, from https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/81597/Halifax%20Noise%20Study-%20Resident%20Perceptions%20into%20Noise%20Annoyance.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 

Sampson, A. (2023, October 2). Neighbours call for public meeting in wake of rowdy street party near Dalhousie campus. CBC. Retrieved October 6, 2023, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/neighbours-call-for-public-meeting-in-wake-of-rowdy-street-party-near-dalhousie-campus-1.6984547