Duration Bias and the Paradox of Restraint

There appears to be a fundamental flaw in the worldview of many Western anti-war advocates in how they perceive modern conflicts. It’s one that needs to be called out openly and clearly.

As we all know, modern conflicts aren't, anymore, between clear armies of nation-states that follow the conventional rules of war, like wearing uniforms, separating from civilians, or protecting their own populations. Even monstrous regimes like the Nazis and Soviets broadly followed those codes. Nowadays we're dealing with shapeless terror groups designed for sabotage, massacres, and assassinations.

We all know that, right?

But what’s being kept out of public discourse is the element of time.
Terrorist operations are typically fast, brutal, and most importantly (for the sake of this article) usually over within hours. As soon as the killing ends, they ditch the combat gear and blend back into the civilian population.

The army forced to respond, on the other hand, must do the opposite: invade, hold territory, plan urban warfare, scan for enemies hiding among civilians. This takes time. And because it takes time, it becomes the focus. The human mind tends to overreact to sustained action and downplay quick horrors. That's duration bias.

If Israel had flattened Gaza in three days, i.e., leveled neighborhoods, killed without distinction, then withdrawn; it would've sparked outrage, but might have been filed away as just another ugly chapter in a brutal conflict.

But because Israel proceeds slowly, tries to target combatants, and acts with visible restraint (whether or not that restraint is perfect), the duration of the campaign becomes the very thing it's condemned for.

And that's the absurdity: Israel is demonized not despite the fact that it acts differently than its genocidal enemies, but because of it. The prolonged effort meant to avoid indiscriminate killing is twisted into evidence of malice.

So-called peace activists then weaponize that prolonged timeframe. They flood the media with moralistic essays that ignore intent, method, or enemy tactics. They use duration bias to flip reality—turning Israel's restraint into guilt, and the terrorists' quick brutality into something forgettable.

They end up demonizing the one actor in the region that, even while fighting for its survival, still operates under constraints its enemies never even pretend to be willing to accept...