Collective punishment is ok then in your book…it seems you are happy classing all Palestinians as terrorists therefore justifying Israeli actions.

The Palestinians (Hezbollah/Hamas) have no problem firing their thousands of rockets on Israeli civilians. While that 'collective punishment' actually IS a violation of international law, they never get condemned for it. Israel does targeting more and sometimes less, but as noted, Hamas likes to hide behind the skirts of their women.

As for collective punishment, yes. If the Palestinians refuse, time after time, to negotiate peace in good faith (giving up the claimed objective of a 2-state solution to pursue terrorism), then losing land, mile by mile seems both appropriate and at least as fair as the constant threat of terrorism.

@racocn8 Ah…the David v Goliath argument again…as far as International Law is concerned….Israel has been in defiance & contravention of more UN resolutions than any other country …45 in total.
[en.m.wikipedia.org]

Which is precisely why the UN has no standing in this conflict. They've been wholly biased against Israel in their passing resolutions against Israel and saying nothing about the terrorism from the Palestinians. Gee, now why would that be???

Lets be hypothetical for a just a second. It is 1948 and YOU are farming the same farm that your father and grandfather had. You have the deed to the land. Some asshole smashes down the front door, and says, "God gave us this land, so get out fast--- and the 6 months old baby pooed on us--- so naturelly we had to kill it".-------Yes, the last remark, was VERY dark humour---- but in REALITY, that is what is happening.
Maybe if there is another 24 thousand Palastinians murdered- that will satisfy the blood lust!

All the Arab countries ethnically cleansed the Jews from their midst at the same time. As Hamas hasn't released their hostages, their blood lust is still not satisfied.

@racocn8 I condemn both sides for wrongdoing …it’s sad that you seem unable to seem unable to do so. Proportionality is important and is the key factor to my viewpoint.

@Marionville Ah, so you would like to see as many Israelis die as Palestinians. It would be great if the Israelis could simply kill 1200 Palestinians and then stop. Except that Hamas has vowed to commit as many Oct.7's as needed until Israel is destroyed. So stopping at 1200 Palestinians would make you feel better, but do nothing for Israel's security. IOW, a completely unrealistic position. I also condemn both sides for wrongdoing. War is ugly and people die. Hamas had their soverign state, but used it to plan and commit horrific atrocities. Besides murder, rape, and desecration of the dead, they even forcibly inflicted genital mutilation on some of the women (who certainly weren't Muslim). All the while flying high on Captagon... (a type of meth)

@racocn8 I don’t wish to see any Israelis die, I never said I did nor did I imply it…it’s sad that you choose to misinterpret what I say as you do…I think we’ve exhausted this subject and we will never have a meeting of minds on it. Goodnight.

@Marionville "Proportionality is important and is the key factor to my viewpoint." No misinterpretation; straight-up implication.

@racocn8 No…that’s only your interpretation…and you are wrong, Israel’s retaliation is disproportionate…and has gone way beyond any pretext of being proportionate. That is what my words mean…not that I think an equivalent number of Israelis should now be killed…that would be an obscene idea. I wish less deaths on either side not more.

@Marionville Why are you even bothering with this vegtable?

@Diogenes I’m done now..,

@Marionville What war was proportionate? The Gazans brought this on themselves and continue by holding hostages. The hostages give cover to the Israelis. That and the rife bigotry of Hamas supporters.

"It sounds like I am anti-Semitic. " Bingo! Sucks to be you.

@racocn8 Why attribute remarks to me that I never said? I’m not the original poster…you seem to be somewhat confused as to whom you’re addressing your remarks in your eagerness to castigate…

@Marionville No confusion. It went to the original poster automatically.

I merely answered each of you in the same post. Who is eager to castigate and infer error? Why are you answering when you said you were done? If you weren't done, you missed answering my question.

The IDF's response is anything but proportional. Not that any portion of what either side has done is right. Violence should never be the answer. We got some evolving to do?

Where is the avowed aim to make Gaza uninhabitable? Hunting Hamas is a cover? For what?

@racocn8 Are you being serious?

That is what you said. So you don't have anything to back up your statements.

@racocn8 I’m asking if it’s a serious question you’re posing….

Yes. Serious questions.

@racocn8 Members of the Israeli government are have in recent weeks been on record as stating this…but even before the current catastrophic bombardment of Gaza by IDF…admittedly in response to the heinous actions of Hamas…this most recent Netanyahu coalition government has had intentions more extreme than any previous ones…. [vox.com]

So when you said "avowed aim", you were only referring to unofficial statements by Israelis. In other words, the 'avowed aim' is not avowed by the Israeli government and wasn't really avowed at all. And you didn't answer what the hunting for Hamas was a cover for.

@racocn8 When government members make statements of intent with no rebuttal I think we can be sure enough that it’s official. As far as my other statement…”hunting for Hamas” is the official reason given by the Israeli government for all the bombing and killing that has been going on since October 2023. It’s the catch-all justification for everything…self defence in the form of hunting and killing Hamas, targeting Hamas they say, but if it means killing women, children, journalists, aid workers, doctors and any others non militants who just happen to be in Gaza and in the path of their missiles…well so be it, it’s just too bad!

So you're saying that the Israelis are using the 'hunt for Hamas' as cover for their intention to commit genocide against the Palestinian people. That would be pretty stupid given those killed to date are 0.1% of all the Palestinians. Almost as stupid as Hamas overtly saying that they DO seek the genocide of all Jews.

@racocn8 I didn’t say it was clever…just that they were doing it…