Innocent Deaths

Eight Israelis were recently killed at a religious community in Israel. There was much outcry about innocent civilians.

Strangely when over 100 Gazan civilians including various children were killed by Israeli bombing this was "justifiable" and not a tragedy. Hamas's rockets had been shelling into Israel and in the past week one Israeli had been killed. There were seemingly no "innocent victims" here because "Hamas should have known that had they stopped their rockets, the killing wouldn't have occurred".

It is hard for me to understand how a people in Gaza and particularly children in Gaza are at fault for the misery that they've faced over the past 60 years. Given the poverty level and lack of land or resources to build an economy, is it any wonder that many people are radicalized.

The facts that many, many innocent Palestinians are killed by Israeli atrocities does not justify the killing of "innocent" Israelis. It does, however, make it more understandable.

The idea that "collective punishment" and fear of the killing of people or the destruction of their homes will somehow cow the people into "accepting reality" is a strange concept.

Similarly we may wonder why young males in our country who have been brutalized as children emotionally and physically by strict and arbitrary parents and/or bullied by other boys suddenly are killers. Passiveness may turn into aggressiveness most easily.

Thanks!