It's a toughie, to say the least. Both sides have valid arguments - whether Hamas are oppressed freedom fighters or anti Semitic terrorists depends largely on your own experience (or view) of the situation. To offer a thought re casualty ratios, imagine a situation where an individual intent on causing you harm fired ten shots at you, but happened to miss with all shots. If you fired back once and killed your aggressor because you happened to be a better shot (or possessed a more accurate weapon) would that be unfair? Surely intent to destroy is the same irrespective of how effectively it is enacted. It is a terrible situation, and heartbreaking, but both sides suffer pain and share guilt - the kids on the beach and the kidnapped teens are both just as pointless and cruel an end to young lives. The question I find myself asking is why the Israel-Palestine situation garners more media coverage than similarly tragic situations. Take Ukraine - recent coverage following MH17 mentioned in a casual aside that around a thousand have died in the recent conflict. Boko Haram, pushed into media consciousness recently via twitter have been involved in the deaths of around 1,500 this year. These situations are just as destructive for those affected but don't seem to draw the same bullet-by-bullet coverage and comment. Feuds, aggression, revenge, war, terrorism, survival - if you are unfortunate enough to be in the situation where you or your family are under direct threat then your acceptance of what the justifiable response is can be a lot more extreme than it might otherwise be. Same for both sides, no winners, no real evil. Just humans, in fear or rage, reacting to the situation they are in. Same as we have done for years and will continue to do ad exitium. Overall possibly a more pro Israel post, so to balance it out listen to the song Nakba by Slovo from a Palestinian standpoint, if you have the chance. The line about the 'love of her life' brings tears to my eyes.
