David Rodin on Morality and Ethics in the Gaza Conflict BBC Radio 4s The Moral Maze

Dr David Rodin appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Moral Maze on 21 November 2012, discussing the recent escalation of violence in Gaza.

Both sides in the current conflict in Gaza have been claiming the moral high ground. To the Israelis its an issue of self-defence and theyre trying to avoid casualties. To Hamas its about responding to the oppression and aggression of a much more powerful neighbour. The world looks on, counting the bodies and is almost inevitably drawn to the graphic simplicities of competing victimhood. The Palestinians win that hands down, but, terrible though it is, theres more to morality than suffering. What if, as the Israeli writer Amos Oz says, theyre both right? Should we substitute pragmatism for morality? Stop trying to weigh up competing moral claims in the interests of some sort of solution. Or is giving up the idea of right and wrong, relativism of the worst kind, that could lead to a different kind of moral tragedy? Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Michael Portillo, Anne McElvoy, Matthew Taylor and Claire Fox.

Witnesses: Professor Daniel Statman - Department of Philosophy, University of Haifa, Dr David Rodin - Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, University of Oxford, Dr Philip Cunliffe - Lecturer in International Conflict, University of Kent.

You listen to this programme on iPalyer radio here: The Moral Maze.

David Rodin is Senior Research Fellow, ELAC.