When children become the primary casualties of wars and conflicts

There is no better place to begin this article than with the words of Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s National Security Minister. During a security cabinet meeting in early June, he called for the abduction of Lebanese women and children as a means to pressure Hezbollah. “Let’s start thinking outside the box about Hezbollah,” he said, urging officials to adopt more aggressive measures, including “abducting their women and children” because, in his assessment, that is “what hurts them the most.” Imagine the moral decay required to propose the kidnapping of children as a legitimate military tactic. This is not a fringe figure speaking from the margins—this is a senior minister in the Israeli government. His words were met with no meaningful international […]