Michael Walzer Says Gaza Campaign Is No Longer Just War

After three years of defending Israel’s military actions following the October 7 Hamas attacks, eminent American war ethics scholar Michael Walzer no longer believes the country holds the right side in the Gaza conflict, nrc.nl reported. Citing the continuous civilian death toll and the widespread unlivable conditions created across the territory, the 91-year-old philosopher stated in a detailed interview profile with The New Yorker that the campaign can no longer be classified as a just war.

The Evolution of a Just War Theory

Walzer holds a towering reputation in political philosophy as the author of the 1977 landmark book Just and Unjust Wars, a text regularly taught at military academies including West Point, according to reporting by revueplurielles.fr. For decades, his framework divided conflict ethics into two categories: ius ad bellum, governing the right to start a war, and ius in bello, governing the rules of conduct during combat. Following the October 7, 2023, attacks, Walzer maintained that Israel possessed a clear, undeniable right to self-defense under ius ad bellum. In early interviews, such as a conversation with NRC in early 2024, he attributed high Palestinian casualties to the inherent dangers of asymmetric urban warfare and Hamas’s underground tactics rather than intentional malice, noting that indiscriminate bombing would have yielded a far higher death count.

Shifting Perspectives on Gaza Destruction

The prolonged duration of the destruction ultimately altered Walzer’s perspective, leading him to conclude that the ongoing devastation aimed to render the Gaza Strip largely unlivable for its population. In his extended discussions with The New Yorker, Walzer admitted he reached this realization late, adding that he is no longer convinced Israeli forces chose targets as carefully as previously assumed. This shift represents a stark departure from his earlier positions. Prior to this assessment, his primary public rebuke of Israeli military strategy involved the attack with explosive pagers on members of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, which he characterized to The New York Times as a terrorist act and a likely war crime.

When Conduct Undermines Cause

Walzer now argues that the sheer scale and duration of the civilian slaughter in Gaza blur the traditional boundary between why a war is fought and how it is conducted, according to nrc.nl. He noted that severe violations of ius in bello can retroactively taint ius ad bellum, transforming an initially justified military response into an unjust enterprise over time. To illustrate his reasoning, Walzer drew a historical parallel to Allied firebombing campaigns during World War II, questioning whether relentless destruction—such as the bombing of Dresden in February 1945 or Tokyo in March 1945, which killed tens of thousands of civilians—would eventually cross the threshold into indefensibility if sustained indefinitely.

Philosopher Michael Walzer Defines War Ethics

Who is Michael Walzer?

Michael Walzer is a 91-year-old American philosopher, historian, and professor widely recognized as a leading global authority on the ethics of war through his 1977 book Just and Unjust Wars.

What distinction does Walzer make regarding war ethics?

His framework separates ius ad bellum (the justice of entering a war, such as legitimate self-defense) from ius in bello (the moral rules and conduct governing how a war is fought).

How did Walzer’s view of the Gaza conflict change?

While he initially supported Israel’s right to retaliate after the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, nrc.nl reported that three years of continuous civilian casualties and infrastructural destruction convinced him the campaign’s conduct rendered the war unjust.