Red Jahncke’s op-ed “Gaza invasion is unjustified“ is unsophisticated analysis that’s wrong from his premise and conclusions.

Jahncke is wrong to declare that Israel is not fighting in self-defense. The war is between Israel and Iran. Hamas is a proxy. Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah share a goal: obliterate Israel and butcher Jews. Jahncke is wrong conceptually when he declares “disproportionality to achieve deterrence should have limits.” Disproportionality won’t arise until Israel’s intractable enemies are deterred. Therefore, Israel’s campaign against this multi-tentacled enemy is paradigmatic self-defense.

Jahncke is wrong that Hamas has “limited resources” and is “penned in.” On Oct. 7 alone Hamas fired 3,000 rockets at Israeli civilians and tens of thousands since 2007. In Tel Aviv, I had 90 seconds to reach safety. Israelis in the Gaza envelope have 30 seconds. No American would tolerate such a threat. Permanently ending Hamas rocket attacks is legitimate self-defense.

Civilian casualties are a human tragedy. But Jahncke is wrong when assessing fault. Hamas started the war. It defined the battlefield: under Gazan civilians. Hamas strategically sacrifices civilians. Prior wars taught Hamas that gullible westerners overlook Hamas war crimes, preferring instead to blood libel Israel. Until this purposeful blindness ends, Hamas will exploit Gazan civilians.

Harry Weller

West Hartford