Michael Walzer, a noted scholar of just war theory and the conduct of war, has condemned the pager attacks in Lebanon as probable war crimes. His essay appears as an op-ed in the New York Times.

“The exploding pagers and walkie-talkies targeting members of Hezbollah in Lebanon were certainly an espionage and technological coup. Few people on the spot or reading about them from far away could fail to be amazed. But the explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday were also very likely war crimes — terrorist attacks by a state that has consistently condemned terrorist attacks on its own citizens.”

Michael Walzer is a professor emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, who is best known for his Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (1977), which is considered a modern classic in political philosophy.

Walzer has remained engaged in questions concerning the legitimate conduct of warfare throughout his scholarly career. He has published numerous works on religious politics, toleration, just war theory, and the conduct of war and continues to comment on conflicts in the contemporary world.

Michael Walzer’s op-ed is available on the New York Times website. Walzer appeared in a conversation on just war issues with the Council on Foreign Relations in 2017. The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, posted Walzer’s public lecture on “Terrorism and Just War” in 2007. Walzer’s Just and Unjust Wars is available from Basic Books.