Comparing different countries' actions in similar circumstances is the very foundation of international law. "The international community didn't consider this similar incident a breach of international law, so it shouldn't consider my much smaller version of the same thing a breach" isn't whataboutism, it's an argument advanced in and accepted by the ICJ all the time.

These types of comparisons usually aren't even used to excuse anything, either (and they aren't used that way here). The point of the comparison is to ask "do you have a principled opposition to this act that you would apply universally?"