Anytime Israel responds to rocket fire from Gaza with IDF action, we see the media, the UN, the EU, and of course the left-wing American Jews all complaining of Israel's "disproportionate" response. It was just a few rockets, there were hardly any casualties, they will say. Sure, it was technically bad, but Israel needs to use proportionality in its response, the chorus cries.
The concept of proportionality, however, seems to be entirely missing from the discussion of the latest crisis in negotiations, and most particularly from Kerry's analysis of it. There does not seem to be any debate about the fact that Israel's release of the fourth batch of murderers had only been delayed, not cancelled, when Abbas made his grand show of applying to 15 UN bodies and treaties. I have seen different reasons given for the cause of the delay, with the Naharnet website quoting Livni saying that there was disagreement as to which individuals would be released, and other news outlets saying the extension of the negotiations was being discussed. But I have not seen any reputable news organization saying that Israel had actually cancelled the release at that point.
Considering that once these murderers are freed, their freedom is permanent (at least until they commit more crimes), and considering that their release is purely a political device and has nothing to do with the individuals' own guilt or innocence, or any due process concerns, a delay of a few days while additional details are being discussed hardly seems like a major infraction. Since there was never any agreement to halt settlement construction during negotiations, and especially not in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem, the announcement of those units was not in any way a breach of any agreement. Abbas's response, a flagrant violation of the terms under which negotiations were taking place, is hugely out of proportion to the perceived offenses. So where's the outcry?
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