The war between Israel and Iran‘s gang of proxies is a testbed for new tactics and technology, so it is only right that it is also a stage for ethical examination. On April 1, we saw the double image of hi-tech warfare in all its fatal accuracy — followed by another double image of ethical confusion, the cognitive dissonance of the Western liberal conscience. Early in the day, a precision strike by Israeli warplanes destroyed the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing two Iranian generals, five senior Syrian officers, and a Hezbollah officer. That night, Israeli drones hit a convoy of three cars in the Gaza Strip, killing seven civilian members of the World Central Kitchen charity.  

“Israel bombed an Iranian embassy complex. Is that allowed?” Amanda Taub asked in the New York Times. Taub had to admit that it is. The Iranian and Syrian officers were meeting with “leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad” to plan the next stage of their war against Israel. Diplomatic buildings, such as hospitals, homes, and schools, lose their immunity if they are used for military purposes. Iran, Taub coyly admitted, has “long blurred the lines between its diplomatic missions and its military operations in the Middle East.”