Israel, Donations, and Social Justice

Dr. Jim over at Zwinglius Redivivus has a pretty good discussion going on Tax Exempt Donations and Israel.  This also happens to coincide with a conversation I'm having with a conservative Christian blogger regarding social justice.  If the conservative Christian model of social justice seeks to keep minimal government involvement, then why do the need to take advantage of programs that use "tax-exempt donations to help Jews establish permanence in the Israeli-occupied territories?"  Since tax exempt status comes through the government, isn't this a self-defeating argument?

Joel at The Church of Jesus Christ has also weighed in on this issue.

Tax-Exempt Funds Aid Settlements in West Bank | The New York Times

Israel, Gaza, and Just War

Chuck Colson has an interesting piece over at the Christian Post on Israel and Gaza.

I agree with Colson in that Israel should be allowed to defend itself.  But that's where the agreement ends, especially when he threw out just war language.

But Israel’s response was proportionate-good by just war standards. They could have sunk the ships; instead, they boarded them, putting their own troops in peril. The loss of life was tragic, but cannot be laid entirely at Israel’s feet.

Let's take a look at the criteria for a just war from two different perspectives: Just War as Christian Discipleship and Just War as Public Policy.  This is how I learned the Just War Tradition and the table is inspired from my professor's book/lectures.

Criteria	Just War as Christian Discipleship	Just War as Public Policy
Legitimate Authority Who Wages? Who Decides?	God, through the State Princes w/ advisers, soldiers, church	State State w/ international bodies
Just Cause	Other Directed Actual Offense Preemptive Strike (Threat is imminent and grave)	Self-Defense
Right Intent	End is peace Not for hatred or revenge	End is peace No revenge
Last Resort	Good-faith diplomacy	Diplomacy
Reasonable Chance of Success	Attainable, limited ends	N/A
Discrimination	Responsibility to protect non-combatants	Non-combatant deaths permitted if unintended and worth the cost
Proportionality	Directed and measured use of force Minimum force needed	Maximum force necessary

(From Just War as Christian Discipleship by Daniel Bell, Jr., 245-246)

Under the Public Policy version of Just War, yes, Israels action's were justified. This seems to be how Colson is coming at Israel's use of force on the flotilla.  But I'm not interested in Public Policy...I'm interested in Christian Discipleship.

Under Just War as Christian Discipleship, Israel's actions were not justified.   Where did they go wrong?  In this instance, there was no just cause, the threat to Israel was not actual or for preemptive measures (ie the threat was not imminent and grave).  We can debate on weather or not this was Israel's last resort.  Israel did fail the test for discrimination and proportionality.

Having failed several of the tests, in my opinion, Israel's attacks on flotillas were not justified.

Additional Resources:
I highly recommend all these books on the topic of Just War.

• Just War as Christian Discipleship: Recentering the Tradition in the Church rather than the State 
• Just And Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations
• When War Is Unjust: Being Honest in Just-War Thinking
• War, Peace And God: Rethinking the Just-war Tradition (Lutheran Voices)

Israel and Gaza | The Christian Post