Israel allows Palestinians and others of different faiths to live peacefully in Israel. Israel has offered to make peace by both offering land and offering a two-state solution many times. Israel has been attacked with rockets from the neighboring communities many times over several years. Hamas publicly supports terminating the state of Israel.
Hamas brutally attacked, raped, and tortured innocent civilians in Israel. Hamas continues to hold innocent hostages and refused to release them. Hamas has promised to attack again and again until Israel is totally destroyed. 70% of Palestinians support Hamas, including what happened on Oct. 7. Hamas, and many other of Israel's neighbors, seek to impose their religious views on others via the law. Israel allows gays to exist; "Queers for Palestine" show how irrational some folk can be.
Hamas intentionally uses human shields and forcefully prevents them from leaving. Israel warns civilians before they attack. Hamas intentionally locates their military operations beneath soft civilian targets. Israel has nukes and a far superior military. They could easily annihilate all of Gaza immediately.
Israel has shown restraint. I hope the conflict ends soon, but Israel has a legal and moral right to defend itself from the people who openly declare their intent to destroy it. They should use no more force than is reasonably necessary to defend themselves. The US should not be involved unless we previously agreed to defend them or if a direct threat develops to the US.
If IDF soldiers rape, the Israeli military conducts hearings to see if it is true and then punishes the guilty. WHEN Hamas soldiers rape (no "if" about it), they get a pension, a reward. One is civilized, the other is not. Query: which is which? Amazingly, there are all too many people who cannot correctly answer that question. Yes, there are Israeli citizens reported to have tried to interfere with the hearings of the IDF on this matter. It is difficult to totally blame them, given the fear, shame, and disgust at what people of this ilk perpetrated upon innocent Israeli women and girls. But the civilized government of Israel was not deterred by this outbreak. It is insisting upon carrying through with its proper deliberations. If the accused perpetrators are found guilty by the appropriate court, you can bet your bottom dollar they will be punished, no matter how unpopular such a decision may be to the Israeli electorate.
One thing the anti-Israeli protestors cannot understand (e.g., those Harvard student groups who on October 8, 2023, blamed the only democratic country in the Middle East for the horrors of the previous day), is the difference between genocide and collateral damage. In the former case, the military aims directly at civilians, a la Hamas; in the latter, they are only killed indirectly, pursuing legitimate goals of war, namely to conquer the enemy (the IDF). One would think this distinction would be obvious. Alas, it is not.
Did Hamas drop any warning leaflets on Oct 7? To ask this is to answer it. It is a war of Western civilization versus a totalitarian, religiously based group of lunatics who cannot be reasoned with.
